The Cracks In Time
by xxTheImpossibleGurrllxx
Summary: I wanted to believe that this was some sort of joke, but I couldn't. I don't know why I'm here, why I keep getting pulled from one part of the Doctor's time stream to the next, or why the cracks in time are following me. All I know for sure is one thing – life will never be the same again. (Co-authored by: acrossdimensions) [9/10/11/12 Doctor along with OC]
1. And So It Begins

**A/N: Hi, thanks for checking out our story! I've been planning it with my co-author acrossdimensions for a while, and it's been really fun to write so far. So just a heads up, this will be a 'fan travels into the Doctor's universe' fan fiction. We have about seven chapters already written, so expect a new update every week for those chapters.**

**Hope you enjoy reading The Cracks In Time!**

**Chapter 1**

**And So It Begins**

It's pitch black outside as I walk down the sidewalk. The air is crisp, and everything is silent. Well, except me, who's humming the tune of a song called 'An Awful Lot of Running' by Chameleon Circuit. I then suddenly jump when I hear a faint buzzing noise. I listen closely and try to make out the sound. Then I realize that it's my phone. I sigh and roll my eyes. _Ugh, I'm an idiot,_ I tell myself. I reach into my back pocket for my out-dated flip phone and check the caller ID, which read 'Mom'.

"Yeah?" I ask, hoping that she wouldn't rant to me about how I was supposed to be home two hours ago.

"Don't 'yeah' me, it's eleven o'clock at night! Where have you been?!" she screeches into the phone.

"Mom, calm down. I was just at Claire's house for a couple of hours. You remember Claire, right? I told you I was going there before I left!"

"Well I don't remember! I thought something might have happened to you!"

I scoff, "It's not like I'm going to be taken off the street and turned into a Cyberman, if that's what you're thinking." You can hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"No, that's not what I was thinking. And don't use that tone with me, young lady!"

"Okay, mom. I'm on my way home right now. See you in a few minutes," I hung up.

Why do mom's have to be so overprotective? I was just at my friends house. It's not like I was out getting wasted at a club. I told her before I left that I'd be going over to Claire's. Though, she was in the shower when I told her, so that's probably why she didn't hear me. I could have sworn she replied, though. Maybe it was just my imagination. I made a mental note to call her from now on.

I tell myself to walk slowly, trying not to trip. I can be very clumsy at times, especially in the dark, like now. I roll my eyes, _I really need to buy one of those key-chain flashlights for times like this._ I take a few more steps past another alley-way, and then stop. I back-track and turn my head to stare at a large crack on the brick wall of the alley-way. It's faintly glowing. My eyes widen and my mouth drops open. "Impossible," I whisper breathlessly. I walk towards it with caution, but abruptly stop.

"Claire," I shout. "If this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny!"

Silence.

"You can stop now!"

Silence.

"Alright, fine. Two can play at this game," I mutter, getting irritated with my friend.

I'm close enough to reach out and touch it, and that's exactly what I do. In an instant, it starts glowing brighter, almost blinding. "Two parts of time and space that should never have touched," I say, quoting that line from the episode 'The Eleventh Hour'. "I've finally lost it," I whisper, laughing breathlessly. The crack keeps glowing brighter, like it's waiting for me to step into it and see what's on the other side.

"Should I go through it?" I ask the darkness of the otherwise empty alley-way.

The moment I ask that, the crack glows even brighter, as if answering my question. "_Yes_," I can hear a whisper in the back of my mind.

I shrug my shoulders, "Ah, what the hell." I slowly reach my hand into the light, and swiftly take it out. I take a deep breath and poke my hand back in, then my head, and lastly the rest of my trembling body, letting myself be engulfed in the white, blazing light.

And that's when it hits me.

I can't believe what my eyes are seeing.

I am seeing _her_.


	2. The Reality Dream

**A/N: We're back with the second chapter! I know that the first one was short, but the ones following will be **_**way **_**longer. **

**Enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time!**

**Chapter 2**

**The Reality Dream**

I know I'm not a big fan of Rose Tyler, but this is _unbelievable._ Across from me, she's sitting on a bench, staring at her phone with a worried expression on her face.

I snort at the sight. _Gosh, I probably should have listened to my mom and came home earlier. I must have really overdone it with Claire last night during the marathon. _I briefly close my eyes, waiting for this whole thing to disappear. But when I open them again, nothing's changed. Rose is still on the bench, and I'm still standing on concrete.

"Ha, ha," I laugh sarcastically to myself, staring up at the blue sky. I throw my arms up in the air, "Wake up!" At the sudden commotion, Rose looks up from her phone and turns around to stare directly at me. I slowly let my arms slump to my sides as my face turns bright red, noticing the look she's giving me that clearly says: '_What the hell are you doing?' _and '_Do you mind?' _That look is quickly wiped from her face, though, as realization takes over. She grins widely and exclaims, "Ellie!"

_Huh?_

I look over my shoulder to clarify whether she was talking to somebody else, but of course, nobody is there. So how does she know my name?

_This should be impossible, _I think to myself. _God, what am I supposed to do?! There could still be a small chance that I'm still in bed dreaming about this, right?_

I can feel Rose's stare burning a hole through my back. "El, are you alright?"

I glance back over to her and then stare at the ground. "Yeah."

She gives me a disbelieving look. "No really, something's wrong, yeah? The look on your face, something's seriously wrong." She starts to stand up from the bench and I take a step back.

Panic overcomes me and I put my hands up in a way to prevent her from coming any closer. "No, stay there! Don't come near me!"

She puts her hands up too, "What's wrong?!"

I point at her, taking several more steps back. "You! How are you here? Wait － don't answer that, stupid question. More importantly, how am I here?!"

She stares at me with worry and confusion, "What are you talking ab－"

Rose is suddenly cut off by somebody calling 'Rose' and apparently 'Ellie', and I swiftly turn around. My eyes widen and my jaw drops. That man is all too familiar. The same man who destroyed his own planet for the sake of the universe. The man who never stops running, saving world after world. The nine－hundred year old alien who travels through time and space in his little, blue, bigger－on－the－inside box called the TARDIS － next stop… everywhere.

What I don't notice though, is that while I'm too busy caught up in my thoughts, the Doctor comes up to me, hugs me, and spins me around. He notices that I'm not hugging back, and gently puts me down. His grin falters a little, "Ellie?" The Doctor looks me in the eyes with his chocolate brown ones. I try my hardest to act calm, cool, and collected. Sadly and miserably, I was failing, and the battle with my inner fangirl was quickly coming to an end. I'm sure you can guess which side of me was victorious.

_Oh my God, he's so sexy! Hmm, that suit is so fitting… Look at his hair it's all sticky__－__uppy! Ah, I love his hair. I love it, I love it, I love it! I wonder what it feels like… Is it as soft as it looks? If I could just run my hands through it…_

I pause in thought as I realize I'm still staring at him. Apparently, he notices it too, because now he's pointedly raising an eyebrow in my direction.

_Dear Lord, he's doing it; the eyebrow. __**He's giving me the eyebrow!**_ _I wonder if he combs his eyebrows… No! Stop it! Bad Eleanor!_

I close my eyes for a second and take in a deep breath. When I open my eyes again, I introduce myself. I give him a hand to shake, "Hello, you must be the Doctor. My name is Eleanor Archer."

He doesn't say anything nor does he shake my hand. He takes a step back and just stares. Rose and Mickey don't say anything either, they just stare at me with the same confused and worried look in their eyes. I slump my hand back down to my side. _As the one and only Martha Jones once said, 'Never meet your heroes.' _

The awkwardness is so thick you could slice it with a knife. I have to break the silence. I give a tight smile and clap my hands together once, "So! Parallel universe, zeppelins in the sky, and Rose's dad is alive. But, the problem is, she can't see him like she wants to. Am I right? Oh, don't answer that, I already know I am." I grin at them, feeling like a total badass.

Mickey is the first to break the silence. "Oh, come on, Eleanor. You can drop the act now."

Now it's my turn to look confused, "What act?"

The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his Janis Joplin coat. I mentally fangirl again. _Oh my God, it's the sonic!_ He then waves it up and down the length of my body, scanning me for something. A quick flash of panic runs through me. _What if he finds out…_

He stops scanning me and checks the readings. I give a nervous smile, "Find what you're looking for, Doctor?"

He glances back up at me with a look of realization, "You're young."

I look at him strangely, "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm young, I'm nineteen."

He searches my face, "Yes, but this is the youngest I've ever seen you." He turns around and says to Mickey and Rose, "This is the first time she meets us."

He faces me again.

"What does that mean?" I question, still lost.

The Doctor smirks at me with a glint in his eyes, "Spoilers."

"Spoi– wha– ," I stutter. I stare at him for a few long moments, my mouth going a little dry.

Rose breaks the silence this time, "Anyway, my phone connected. There's this Cybus network, it finds your phone. It gave me internet access," she begins.

I gather myself together and decide it's best to help as much as I can. "You know this is the wrong world," I tell her seriously.

Rose glances at me, but then locks her gaze back onto the Doctor. "I don't exist," she tells us sadly. I remember from the episode that instead of her 'parents' having a child, they bought a pet dog, which they named Rose. Of course she doesn't know that yet, but she still must feel horrible right now.

And that still comes to the conclusion if this is real or not. If this is real, I'll most certainly be having a nervous breakdown later. If it isn't, well, I'll still be having a breakdown later anyway.

I notice that I am again staring at the Doctor, and I quickly look away.

"Are you alright?" That familiar voice pulls me out of my thoughts and snaps me back to reality. Well, _this_ reality.

"Um, do I not look alright?" I ask nervously.

He hesitates a moment, thinking of what to say. "No! You just look a little… red…"

_Well, that's because his tenth incarnation is __**really**_ _attractive…_

A pause.

They're all staring at me.

Why are they looking at me like that?

"Wait… Did I just say that out loud…?"

They all nod. Rose is giving me a slight warning glare. The Doctor is smirking smugly. _Great, I think I just bumped up his ego._

Mickey looks between the three of us. "Okay, so back to the part where you don't exist. What do you mean?"

"Right," Rose nods. "There's no Rose Tyler; I was never born. There's Pete, my dad and Jackie, still married mum, but they never had kids."

"Give me that phone." The Doctor tries to grab the phone out of Rose's hands, but fails.

I decide to pick up the conversation that was being made. "They're rich," I begin. "Rose's mom and dad. They're rich."

Rose smiles at me, "They've got a house and cars and everything they want… but they haven't got me," she stands up from the bench. "I've got to see him."

"You ca－" the Doctor starts, but I cut him off.

"Twenty－four hours the TARDIS is going to be all charged up, ready for us － I mean you to get out of here." I turn to face Rose, "In the meantime, while everybody's waiting, you can go have fun and see your dad." Rose grins at me and pulls me into a hug, which I return.

After Rose and I let go of our brief hug, the Doctor asks me in a serious, yet sarcastic tone, "Uh, Ellie, who's in charge?"

I snort, remembering the ninth Doctor asking Captain Jack that in the episode 'Boom Town.' I glance over at him sheepishly, "Oh, right. Sorry."

He gives me a hard stare for a few moments until nodding and finally saying, "Yeah, what El said."

I smirk and nod. He rolls his eyes, then takes off after Rose.

"Yeah, if I haven't found something better," Mickey mumbles and I grin at him, knowing that he would.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

Mickey and I walk in silence as we pass street by street. I'm thinking of asking him how traveling is with the Doctor and Rose, but I already know what his answer would be. He would probably say that it's not as fun as he would like it to be because of the way Rose acts. Whenever I would watch season two of Doctor Who at home, I would always feel sympathetic towards him. I could understand what he felt, and if Rose ever treated me the way that she treats him, I would probably slap her on the spot. But I know Mickey wouldn't do that because he still loves her. I wish she wouldn't ignore him and put all of her attention on the Doctor. That's one of the reasons why Rose isn't my favorite companion.

All of a sudden I bump into somebody and stumble. I look up to see who it is, and my face flashes with confusion and surprise. The only way I can describe her is that she has blonde space－hair.

"Ellie, you need to listen to me very carefully. I don't have much time." The woman － River Song － says urgently.

I nod quickly, taking in her clothing. Which is a spacesuit. _Damn._

"Good, now I only need to tell you one thing before I go, and pay attention, remember, because it is very important that you do this: Listen to the cracks."

I blink, not quite understanding what that meant.

River swiftly looks down at her wrist where her vortex manipulator is strapped down. She looks almost scared, like something bad is about to happen. She glances back up at me with fearful eyes, "I need to go, but we'll be meeting up again very soon. Just remember what I told you, for the sake of your life and the rest of the universe." With that, she vanishes with a spark.

I stand there, unblinking, trying to comprehend what just happened.

_What did she mean 'listen to the cracks'? _

I suddenly feel someone take my hand and pull me forward a little. It's Mickey. "C'mon. I wanna meet someone."

I nod, my mind going a little blank from the advice River just gave me.

We encounter two men dressed in army uniforms who are guarding an entrance into the rest of the city. One of the men approaches us.

"Are we allowed to get past?" Mickey asks the man, gesturing to both of us.

"Yeah, no bother. Curfew doesn't start till ten."

"Hold on, there's a curfew?" I ask him, trying to sound surprised, even though I clearly wasn't at all.

The man gives me a strange look, "Course there is! Where have you two been living? Up there with the tops?"

Mickey and I look up at the sky as we stare at the zeppelins in awe. "I wish," Mickey replies, smirking.

The man stares at us for a couple moments until finally lifting up the road block and letting us through.

"See ya," Mickey waves to them, as I smile.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

After walking a few more blocks, we approach Mickey's grandmother's apartment door and knock.

"Who steps there," his grandmother warns before opening the door. "Who is it?" she asks, trying to feel around with her cane since she was blind. "I know you're there, shame on you tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing! And don't think I'm going to disappear, you're not going to take me!" She whips her cane up in the air, trying to threaten us.

"Hi," Mickey says simply.

Her face softens and she lowers her can. "Is that you?" she steps down, moving closer to Mickey's voice.

"It's me. I came home," he says, happiness flooding over him.

I smile, taking in this very special moment. And then my mind travels back over to what River said right before she had to go. '_Listen to the cracks...'_ That's it? Couldn't she have given me a little bit more than that? Oh, and she also said we would be 'meeting up again soon.' The Doctor said that this was the first time he's ever seen me this young. Does that mean that I'm in his future? Do I ever make it back home? And when did I start accepting that this is reality?

I frown and then jump slightly from being pulled into a light hug."Ooh, ya gettin' a little wimpy there, son." Mickey's grandma pats my back.

What the heck?

I turn my head a little to glance at Mickey, giving him a clear message with my eyes: _Well, do something!_ He seems not to notice, which only makes matters worse. I close my eyes and open them again, only to be smacked in the arm. She's now repeatedly smacking me.

"Ow! Stop－"

"You stupid boy; where have you been? It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories about people disappearing off the streets－"

Mickey clears his throat, "Grandma, that's not me."

She stops hitting me as confusion flashes across her face. "Then who is it?"

"She's just a friend," he says.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she asks, smiling like that was the best news she has ever heard.

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.

"NO!" I shout before Mickey can. "I'm a friend, not his _girl_ friend. I'm just a normal, everyday friend."

Mickey's grandmother looks almost disappointed. "I thought you finally had a real girlfriend for once, Rickey."

"It's Mickey," he corrects.

She points a finger at him, "I know my own grandson's name. It's Rickey."

I laugh, but I immediately stop when I hear tires screeching to a halt right beside me. I see people come out of a blue van, who are also starting to drag Mickey away. _Wait, what?! _My eyes widen and I turn my head sharply in the direction of the van.

Oh, wait. Jake and his crew aren't going to hurt him, so I don't need to chase after them. Thank Rassilon! I pause. _When did I start saying that?_ I sigh. I should meet up with the Doctor and Rose soon, and tell them that I have no idea what happened to Mickey. Yeah, I know that's a lie, but I can't exactly tell them the future. That would be against the rules, right?

I'm pulled away from my thoughts when I hear metal coming in contact with the cement. Uh－oh. _Not_ a good sign. I slowly turn around and try to prepare for the worst, even though I'm nowhere near prepared.

I'm _terrified._

And if Cybermen scare me, then think about how the Daleks will in the future. _If _I travel with the Doctor. I might change my mind later.

Dozens of Cybermen are marching towards me. They're at least twenty yards away, but still. I need to run. Those things creep me out like hell. I turn on my heel and begin running in the opposite direction. I run past more apartments and cars until coming to a complete stop. Dead End. _NO!_ There's no more road, there's just a forest! _Oh, please don't tell me I have to run through a forest to escape from Cybermen._ I draw out a long sigh. Only option, I have to. Either that, or be _deleted._ Or worse, be _converted _into one of _them_.

I begin to carefully run through the forest, almost being smacked in the face by a branch and tripping over a large tree stump. But, overall, I am fine. No cuts or bruises. Well, not that I know of.

I hear the Cybermen's footsteps fading away and I silently sigh in relief. Bet no companion could top that. Well, maybe one. Okay, that's a lie. Probably all of them could, but hey, don't judge!

I can now see a large house in view, by which I'm guessing is Pete and Jackie's house. I quickly exit the forest and run through the wet and slippery grass. I gasp and fall backwards, realizing my mistake and land on my back. Ow. Yup, there's my bruise. As I slowly sit up and get to my feet, I see the Cybermen coming towards the house and I freeze. Ugh, I hate this position that I'm in right now. It makes me want to run. Run far away from this place and never return. To not look back, but to just keep on running and let the wind take me wherever I want to go. But no, I can't do that. I have to be brave and lure the Cybermen away from the house. And who cares if I don't succeed. At least I'll try my best.

_But if I'm going to do this, at least let me have a little fun while I'm at it._ I grin with excitement, even though what I'm about to say to them is incredibly stupid. I take in a deep breath and yell, "Hey, over here!" The Cybermen all stop marching towards the house and turn to face me. I start to flail my arms up in the air. "Yeah, you. Look at me, I'm a target!" I put a hand over my mouth to try to stifle my laughter. I can't believe I just took the Doctor's line from 'The Pandorica Opens.'

All fun soon ends when one of the Cybermen lifts up its arm and shoots at me. I quickly dodge the laser and start running as more Cybermen begin to fire their lasers. I pause for a moment when I hear a familiar voice call out, "Ellie, get in here!"

I turn my head to the left and see the Doctor standing in the doorway of Pete and Jackie's house, motioning me towards him. I take off running in his direction, one of the Cybermen's lasers grazing the side of my upper arm. I hiss loudly in pain, and wince slightly at the faint smell of burnt flesh. _My _burnt flesh.

Oh, they are so going to get it…

I finally make it to the door and shove the Doctor out of my way as I run through. I'm panting, trying to catch my breath. I then jump out of my skin as I feel a warm hand grab my shoulder. I'm forcibly turned around, coming face－to－face with an angry and worried Time Lord.

_A dangerous mix of emotions, certainly not to be reckoned with._

"What the _hell_ did you think you were doing? You can't just put yourself out as Cyberman bait! Do you realize how incredibly reckless and idiotic that was? For Rassilon's sake, you could have been killed!" He is basically growling in my face.

"Yeah, but those moves I did out there were pretty cool," I point out, not at all fazed by his angry rant.

He stares at me with a cold, hard gaze.

…

..

.

"Do you not understand what I just said?!" He moves his hands to my upper arms as he tries to shake some sense into me. I sharply hiss through my teeth and wince when his left hand touches my raw, burnt, and slightly bleeding flesh. I yank myself out of his grasp. His gaze softens as he sees my injury for the first time. "You're hurt."

_Oh, look, it's Captain Obvious! _I think sarcastically. "Um, yeah. One of the Cybermen got me while I was trying to dodge their lasers. It's fine."

The Doctor starts taking off his tie. He then walks back up to me and starts tying it around my arm. I wince slightly as the fabric makes contact with the raw skin, sending a stinging sensation through my upper arm. "Sorry," he mumbles. He finally finishes tying it, making sure it's secure. "There we go! That should do it for now until we get back to the TARDIS. Then I can bandage it properly." He grins softly at me, all negative emotion gone. I smile back, silently thanking him.

The Doctor then walks back to the window where Rose is standing, watching the Cybermen march closer and closer to the house. _Should I follow him?_

_**Go upstairs…**_

I can hear those two words echo through my mind.

Why do I keep hearing those voices? Wait a second…

Out of the corner of my eye I see a crack on one of the staircase floor boards. But not just any crack, _the _crack. The same exact crack that I went through from my dimension to this dimension, which also happens to be the same crack from young Amelia Pond's bedroom wall. Somehow, I feel like I can trust it. Wait, is that what River meant? Listen to the cracks? She says if I don't, it could cost my life, and the rest of the universe along with it. I'm not taking any chances.

_Okay, I'll go upstairs, _I reply to the crack in my head. I take one step up the stairs, but turn back around to make sure the Doctor, nor anybody else is following me. _Nope, still standing by the window._ I turn back around, only to realize that the crack has vanished. Confusion hits me like a wave as I continue to walk up the stairs.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I notice two rooms on the left of the hallway and one on the right. I walk over to the room on the right and open the door. It's _breathtaking._ A master sized bedroom with red velvet wallpaper. I walk over to a large dresser and spot dozens of ribbons tacked to the wall above it. They all say 'First Place' on them. "Give up the stupid dog competitions already," I mutter aloud. I then glance back at the door and realize I forgot to shut it. I dash back to the door and close it quietly. That's when I notice something that I didn't notice before. Laying on the bed was a bag, and next to it － a vortex manipulator.

I cautiously walk towards it, gently picking it up by its worn out leather strap. I look at the screen on it and notice that it's cracked. It's broken. I put it back down on the bed and look at the bag. I then grin and my eyes travel back to the vortex manipulator. I shrug, "Oh, what the hell." I pick it back up again and carefully strap it to my wrist, still grinning.

Me, wearing a vortex manipulator. How cool is that?

I glance at the black bag and reluctantly unzip it. I put my hand in the bag and feel around, hoping that nothing will pop out of it and give me a heart attack. But what I don't realize is that my whole arm is deep inside. I roll my eyes, feeling nothing important. Just some water bottles and extra clothes.

Wait, what?

I take a glimpse at my arm and my eyes widen with excitement. "It's bigger on the inside…!" I then frown. _What is a dimensionally transcendental bag doing here?_ I sigh and decide to ignore the many questions that are cluttering my mind right now and to just enjoy the moment. I zip up the shoulder bag and sling it over my shoulder. I smile, but become completely ignorant to the vortex manipulator that is strapped to my wrist… that is now beeping.

I open the door and decide to go downstairs when something stops me. A tingling sensation starts to invade every inch of me, and it's getting stronger. "What is that?" I ask myself, looking down at my wrist where the vortex manipulator is strapped. I try tugging at the leather to get it off of me, having a strong suspicion that the tingling sensation is coming from it, but the leather won't budge. I try again with no success. I start to get seriously frustrated with this thing when I witness a crack disappearing right on the wall in front of me. I then shriek in pain as I feel like I'm being electrocuted.

I suddenly vanish as all of the atoms in my body scatter. It feels as though all the bones in my body are being crushed, and I can't breathe. I can't see anything around me, nor can I feel anything. I can't move, and as I try, it's no use. I'm hurtling through the vortex － traveling through time. I can almost feel my atoms and bones being snapped back together as I land and hit something. _Hard._

The world around me fades away as everything turns black and I slip out of consciousness.


	3. All Knowing Power

**A/N: Here's chapter 3! Thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows and keep them coming! **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time. **

**Chapter 3**

**All Knowing Power**

I slowly begin to awake as someone continues to shake me. I don't know who it is, let alone what they're doing. All I know is that I would really like them to stop…

"Knock it off," I groan in protest, shifting to lay on my other side. I then feel something rumbling beneath me. _It feels like an engine…_ I swiftly open my eyes and blink a few times, trying to get rid of the blurriness in my vision. As my vision starts to clear, I see a man leaning over me. He has blue eyes and is wearing a leather jacket. I would recognize that look from anywhere. It's the Doctor's ninth incarnation. I bounce to my feet and nearly topple over the Doctor from my dizziness. My vision is spinning and turns black around the edges from blood rush.

"Whoa, you alright?" He puts a hand on my shoulder.

I look up at him, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a rough landing, that's all."

He looks down at the vortex manipulator strapped to my wrist. "You use that to travel?"

"Yeah, it's a vortex manipulator. Ever tried one?"

He shakes his head, "No, I don't think I'd want to. I've heard of them though, the Time Agents using them," he grimaces. "Could damage reality."

I nod slightly and look around to find out where I'm at. I bite my lip, realizing I'm on Platform One. _Oh God, I'm not going to have to go up against Cassandra, am I? I'm not scared, I just don't want to deal with her and all the bitchiness. _

"What's your name, then?" The Doctor asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

I smile, "Eleanor Archer."

He smiles right back. "Well, Eleanor, I'm going to go mingle. Care to accompany me?" He holds out an arm for me to take.

I take his arm gladly, "Sure."

We walk over to stand by the other aliens as Cassandra announces, "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers." Two blue munchkins walk in to the large room with a jukebox. "Play on!" Suddenly, the song 'Tainted Love' starts playing.

I notice Rose glancing around at all of the aliens, becoming overwhelmed. I quickly walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She snaps her head in my direction. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask, trying to mask my face in concern.

Rose nods, "Yeah, I'm fine, yeah," she tries to give me a reassuring smile. I narrow my eyes at her knowingly. Her smile falters, "Er, well, no － not exactly, no. Sorry, I just need to, um…" She takes a couple steps forward, about to walk away.

_I have to warn her._

Before she can walk any further, I call after her quietly, "Rose!" She turns around to face me again. "Stay away from the aliens in the black robes," I tell her, face completely serious. She just stares at me for a moment, confused, but then nods again before walking away and disappearing around a corner.

Suddenly, I can hear someone singing. It's faint, too quiet for me to understand the words. But, no, wait. Something seems different. I spin on the spot, looking around, my long, straight hair twirling into my vision. No one else seems to be noticing the singing.

I swear, I really need to stop imagining things.

The singing gets louder, and I can finally make out the lyrics.

"_My milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard. And they're like, it's better than yours. Damn right, it's better than yours." _The voice chuckles in my head. "_No worries, Princess. It's only me."_

Huh?

"_Turn around,"_ the voice calls again.

I slowly turn. Then my eyes widen and a small gasp escapes my mouth. "Jack!" I squeal excitedly, switching on 'fangirl mode'.

He laughs again, "_It's been a long time since I've heard that name. So, how's my Princess doing?"_

I start talking really fast, my American－ness showing. "Oh, this is brilliant, very exciting! It's wonderful! I mean, just look at this place. Everyone gathered together, exchanging gifts. I do have questions though. Is this real or a hallucination? Have I been hit by a bus? Am I in a coma? Why did a dimensionally transcendental bag seemingly appear out of thin air, left for me? When I tried on the 'broken' vortex manipulator, why did it electrocute me and bring me here? And why won't the damn thing come off? It's like it's super glued to my wrist. Why am I even in this dimension? Am I going to drastically alter the timelines? Can I even get home?!" I gasp, out of breath from my slightly hysterical filled rant.

"_Woah, Princess, slow down! Deep breaths."_ I breathe in deeply through my nose. "_That's it, nice and easy." _He pauses a few moments and waits for me to calm down. "_Better?"_ he finally asks.

I nod, "Yeah, sorry for spazzing out on you."

Another deep chuckle, "_You're fine, El, I understand. And you're right, it's time you've had some answers. But you must know, everything I tell you is very important. You need to listen carefully, and follow everything I tell you, because your life could depend on it. Is that clear?" _He waits for my response.

I swallow nervously and nod, "Uh, y－yeah, crystal."

Even though I can't see it, I can hear a smile in his voice. "_No need to be so nervous, Princess. Just follow the advice I give you, and everything will be fine. Now, to answer your questions from before, yes, this is real. No, you have not been hit by a bus, and you're not in a coma. The bag was left for you, all of the things inside are meant to help you, no matter what situation you find yourself in. There are some things I can't tell you, things that you currently will not understand, but that you will learn later on. The vortex manipulator is not malfunctioning. You're meant to be here, it's a fixed point in time and space, which is why it won't come off. You won't drastically change the timelines if you're careful. You __**must not**_ _interfere with major events. The consequences could be disastrous. And I'm sorry, Princess, I really am. Don't worry, though. You will adjust. Oh, our time is pretty much up. It's time for you to go now."_

Panic takes over me. "Wait! What am I supposed to do?"

"_Just go with the flow,"_ he states, and I can picture him shrugging. "_You can use your knowledge from the show, but don't tell the Doctor about it until you have his complete trust. You'll know when the time is right."_

"Then what do I tell him? If he asks how I know everything, what do I say?"

"_Tell anyone who asks, tell them it's your 'All Knowing Power'. Let them believe what they want, as long as it doesn't cause you any harm. You're one of the most important people in this universe, Eleanor. We can't have you getting hurt."_

Most important… What?!

"But… why me?"

The Face of Boe － Jack － chuckles in my mind, "_Why not? You'll find out eventually. You have to go now, the Doctor needs you. You'll find him near the observation room where you first arrived. I'll see you later, okay?"_

I nod in a slight daze, still taking in all the information I've just been told. "Bye Jack," I whisper and turn to leave.

"_Oh, and Princess?"_ he calls again.

I stop in my tracks and spin to face him again, "Yeah?"

I can hear the smile in his voice, "_Run!"_

That makes everything better. I grin and laugh, turning around and taking off.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I race down a corridor and faintly hear Rose yelling. I follow her voice, zagging to my right, then my left, then right again, skidding to a stop when I reach the door her voice is coming from. Rose is banging her fists on the door. "Let me out!" she yells.

The Doctor is by my side a moment later. "Anybody in there?" he asks while sonicking the door panel, trying to get it open.

"Let me out!" Rose yells again.

The Doctor rolls his eyes, "Oh, well it would be you."

I yell through the door to her, "Rose! You need to get to the lowest ground possible."

"Uh, yeah, okay," she yells back shakily.

"Good! Now don't worry, we'll get you out of this alive. I promise," I try reassuring her.

"You don't know that!" the Doctor hisses at me quietly.

"Yes, I do, Spaceman. Now shut up and open the door. Quickly!" I make a 'pick－up－the－pace' movement with my hands, rushing him.

"_Sun filter rising…"_

The Doctor rushes to the door, "The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors. Stay there, don't move."

"Where am I gonna go?" Rose calls out.

Instead of responding, the Doctor takes off running. I roll my eyes. "Rose, the Doctor's gone, and I have to go too, but we will come back for you." I promise her.

"Don't leave me!" she panics, pounding on the door once.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. You'll be fine, trust me." And with that I take off running after the Doctor.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I jog into the main room where a group is gathered, panting lightly as I catch the second part of what Jabe is saying. "...I'm afraid the steward is dead," she explains grimly. Everyone gasps.

Dammit! The steward, I forgot about him. I could have saved him!

The Moxx of Balhoon speaks up, "But who killed him?"

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face! Talk to the Face!" Cassandra blames.

_God, I am so sick of her._

"Put a sock in it, you bitchy trampoline!" I snap at her without thinking.

Everyone turns to face me in shock. I can faintly hear Jack chuckling in my head. Cassandra is glaring at me, and I glare right back, my stare unwavering. '_I know it's you.'_ I mouth to her. Her artificial eyes widen. I smirk triumphantly.

The Doctor takes the metal spider in his hands. "Easy way of finding out. Someone brought their pet onboard. Let's send him back to Master."

Ugh, _that_ reference.

He sets the metal spider on the floor. It crawls over to Cassandra and pauses, staring at her while she glances around, trying not to look guilty. Then it changes direction, instead crawling over to the aliens (who are really robots) in the black robes.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra exclaims.

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it," the Doctor strides over to the Adherents. The leader in the front tries to hit him, but the Doctor is faster. He catches the arm and rips it off, revealing wires hanging from the end. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea." He pulls one of the wires dangling from the arm, and the Adherents all collapse. "Remote controlled droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo. Go home." The Doctor gives the spider a nudge and it crawls back over to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!" Cassandra commands. Her attendants raise their spray guns.

"What are you going to do, moisturize me?"

"With acid," Cassandra deadpans. "Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the main frame. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

I scoff, "Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid is that?"

Cassandra glares at me. "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune." She shifts her gaze to the Doctor, "I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours."

The Moxx of Balhoon throws his stubby hands in the air, "Arrest her, the infidel!"

"Oh, shut it, pixie," Cassandra snaps. "I've still got my final option."

"_Earth death in three minutes…"_ the computer announces.

"And here it comes You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies, they triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."

"Then you'll burn with us," Jabe speaks up in confidence.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Cassandra feins apology. "I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate!" Suddenly all the metal spiders on the platform begin to explode, making the whole of Platform One shake. "Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh shame on me."

"_Safety systems failing…" _the computer announces.

"Bye－bye, darlings. Bye－bye, my darlings." Cassandra and her two assistants beam out of the room in a flash of blue light.

"_Heat levels rising…"_

"Reset the computer," the Moxx of Balhoon demands.

"Only the steward would know how," Jabe states in slight exasperation and panic.

"No," I speak up firmly. Everyone turns to me with slightly confused and panicked expressions. I hesitate for a moment.

_C'mon, Ellie. Spit it out! _

"Uh, well, we could probably do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch… or something… somewhere," I finish awkwardly. I clear my throat, waiting for someone to say something.

The Doctor beams at me and nods his head in confirmation, "She's right, we'll have to find it, good. What was your name again?"

"Eleanor," I smile.

"Eleanor, I like that. Is it alright if I call you 'Ellie'?" I shrug and nod, still smiling. "Fantastic! Jabe, Ellie, come on. You lot, just chill." He holds up his hands in an attempt of reassurance, then sprints out the door.

Then I remember I have to save Jabe.

I hold up my hand in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. "Jabe, you need to stay here. If you go with us, you _will_ die. You have to trust me on this. Plus, there are people here who could use your help." I motion to the group of hysterical aliens. Jabe turns her head to look at them for a moment then turns back to me. She hesitates and opens her mouth to protest but I cut her off. "_Please,"_ I stress. Jabe contemplates for another moment but nods, agreeing. "Thank you." I give her a relieved smile, then turn on my heel and run out the door after the Doctor.

"_Heat rising. Earth death in two minutes. Earth death in two minutes. Heat levels critical."_

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

As the Doctor and I walk silently to the engine room, I pray that I hope I'm doing the right thing in saving Jabe. Well, yeah, I know taking her place was a good thing, but I forgot what happens next. I've only seen this episode once or twice, so I'm not sure on what to do. I remember that she dies, but how exactly? Damn. That's going to be a problem.

The Doctor looks at me, "Where did Jabe go?"

"Uh, she decided to stay behind and help the others on the observation deck," I reply.

"Shame, could've used her help."

I stare at him, offended. "You know, I'm right here. I could help just as much as she could."

The Doctor looks at me sheepishly, "Right, sorry."

We continue walking through the tight tunnel, when something catches my eye. I stop walking and take a couple steps back. The Doctor doesn't stop though, and turns a corner, probably too lost in his thoughts to notice I'm no longer by his side. I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to what I saw. My jaw drops. The crack. The crack is on the wall of the tunnel. _What? So now it's following me?_

"Why are you following me? What do you want?" I shout at the glowing crack. Suddenly, it stops glowing. It looks exactly like the crack in little Amelia's bedroom wall before it opened. I reach my hand out to touch it and yank it back when it burns me.

"Ow!" I say loudly and stumble backwards slightly. The Doctor pops his head back out from around the corner.

"You alright?" he asks, concerned. He starts walking towards me.

"It burned me!" I hiss quietly through my teeth, motioning towards the crack.

"There's nothing there," the Doctor says, slight worry in his voice.

"What? Of course there is! It's right…" I trail off, looking back to the spot where the crack was, noticing that there is indeed nothing there. The crack is gone. Where the hell did it go?

The Doctor takes my hand from my side and examines it. "And there's no burn either," he concludes.

I jerk my hand out of his grasp and look it over myself. _He's right, there is no burn, not even a little scratch. Was I imagining the whole thing? And if I wasn't imagining it, why isn't there a burn mark? Why is it even following me in the first place? _I shake those thoughts from my mind and straighten my back firmly. I start walking forwards through the tunnel and turn my back to find the Doctor still giving me a look that seems to be a mixture of confusion and worriment. I sigh, walking back up to him and giving him a hand to take.

"Come on, let's go save Platform One."

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

When the Doctor and I arrive at the engine room, I notice that the engine blades are spinning in a fast rotation. "Oh, and guess where the switch is," he says irritably. The switch is on the other side of the room, the engine blades blocking our path.

"_Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising," _the computer announces.

The Doctor takes off the plastic frame from a lever beside him. Once he pulls down the lever, the spinning blades start to slow down, but when he lets go of the lever, the blades speed up again. I mentally facepalm, remembering this part by detail. _How could I forget?_

I grasp the lever's handle firmly and pull it down, keeping my hands secured to it so it doesn't fly back up again. The Doctor spins around in his spot and stares at me. He shakes his head with a disbelieving look on his face. "You can't," he protests. "The heat's going to vent through this place."

I nod, "I know."

"Eleanor, the external temperature is five thousand degrees. You could get seriously hurt, or worse, die."

I smile a 'River Song smile'. "I'll try not to get hurt too badly, just go. Stop wasting time, Time Lord."

He seems surprised and taken aback that I know his race, but then replaces it with a manic grin and starts to make his way past the blades. I frown. _Don't freak out, and whatever you do, don't let go of the lever. You might die, but you might not. You could still have a chance. _

I watch as the Doctor tries to get past each spinning engine blade. He starts running and ducks as he barely makes it past the first one. He abruptly halts before the second one and tries to decide when's the best time to make a run for it. He turns back to look at me as I try to give him a reassuring smile, but it comes out as a grimace. The heat is scorching my hands, and I want to shout for help so badly, but I try not to show it. The Doctor turns his back to me and focuses on the situation at hand.

My hands are becoming hotter by the second, and I don't know how much longer I can hold it. I hold back a shriek as my hands literally feel like they're on fire. By this point, Jabe would have let go of the lever and would be burning. I hold back all of my fear and focus on traveling with the Last of the Time Lords. Well, he _thinks_ he is the last.

I see him pass the last blade as relief replaces my fear. My hands are going to hurt for a while, but at least I can let go of the lever. I slowly pull my hands off of it as I hear the Doctor exclaim, "There!" He pushes down the switch on the other side of the engine room. He then runs back over to me and catches a glimpse of my burnt hands. I haven't taken a look at them yet, but I can tell by the Doctor's face that it isn't that pretty, "Oh, Ellie…". Once I gather up the courage to take a peek, I look down at them and shriek at the sight. Most of the skin on my hands and up my wrists were raw and burnt. Slimy pink flesh, bleeding in some areas with black scorches in others, and you can see blisters starting to form and fill with watery liquid. "When we get back to my ship I can take you to the Infirmary and get those bandaged up," the Doctor says.

I forget about my hands for a moment as I grin. "'We'?"

"Well, yeah. I was thinking you could take a little trip with Rose and I," he grins back.

I almost tackle him to the ground with a hug. "Yes, thank you! I would love that!"

He chuckles, "Right, well we're not quite done yet. We still have to deal with Cassandra." He gives me an arm to take.

I nod, still grinning and gratefully take it, careful not to touch anything with my hands.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

The sliding doors open for us as we make our way onto the observation deck. While I stand by Rose, the Doctor walks over to the 'last ostrich egg' laying on a pillar and cracks it open, revealing a teleportation reverse switch. He turns it, and Cassandra gets beamed back into the room.

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces," Cassandra mutters, not realizing that she has gotten teleported back. "Oh…" She trails off upon noticing where she is.

"The last human," the Doctor spats, staring at her coldly.

"So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club," Cassandra replies quickly.

"People have _died_, Cassandra. You _murdered_ them."

"It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter － "

"And creak?" The Doctor interrupts.

"And what?"

I decide to take the Doctor's next line and step forward, "Creak. You're creaking"

"What? Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" Cassandra cries out.

"You raised the temperature." Yes, I know, I keep stealing lines. But, in my defense, they are small. It's not like me saying them instead of someone else is going to blow a hole in the universe… right?

Cassandra pleads. "Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor, Eleanor. I'm sorry. I'll do anything."

Even though I don't pity her, and neither does the Doctor, Rose does.

"Help her," Rose asks the Doctor quietly.

"Everything has its time and everything dies," he responds, his voice cold.

I frown. I always hated that quote. "And nobody knows that quite like you, eh, Doctor?" He snaps his head to the left to stare at me, but doesn't say anything.

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cries out one last time.

Then I suddenly remember what happens next. She explodes! I quickly take a step back, then to my right to stand behind the Doctor, using him as a human shield.

_Splat!_

One big flap of skin lands dead center (excuse the lame, unintentional pun) in the Doctor's face, which I'm pretty sure didn't happen in the episode. I can't help it. I start laughing, clutching my stomach with my face turning a slight pink. Rose soon joins in, and the both of us giggle together. The Doctor reaches up and peels the skin off, flicking it to the side, a look of disgust on his face.

"_Shuttles four and six departing. This unit is now closing down for maintenance."_

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

"How do you know my name?" Rose asks me as we stand by the observation window, watching chunks of Earth float past us.

"I － I sort of know everything; past, present, future." I stammer, not meeting her gaze. "I call it my 'All Knowing Power'."

"So, you know my future?"

I nod and look up at her, "Sort of, yeah."

She grins at me and opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off knowing exactly what she was about to say. "Sorry, Rose, but I can't tell you your future. Could alter the timelines and cause disaster." Wow, I felt almost like a professional saying it like that. I wonder if the Doctor feels the same way when he tries to show his knowledge.

She frowns. "Alright, well is there anything you could tell me? Something small?"

"Uh－ " I start, but the Doctor walks into the room and cuts me off.

"No, you can't," he says firmly. "Just like you said; could cause disaster, even the smallest things," he stands beside me and stares at me seriously. "And you say you know everything?"

_He just eavesdropped on my whole conversation with Rose. Why am I not surprised?_ I hesitate and then nod.

"You know about me?"

I shrug, "Only some." _More like mostly everything,_ I add silently.

He nods and turns to face the glass window, not responding. I frown.

Rose speaks up, "The end of the Earth," she says sadly. "It's gone. We were too busy saving ourselves that no one saw it go."

I take her hand, flinching from the stinging feeling, but continue her line, surprisingly remembering most of it. "All those years, all that history and nobody was even looking. It's just…" I trail off, not being able to finish my sentence since Rose didn't finish it in the episode.

The Doctor gives me a hand to take and then gives one to Rose, causing her to let go of mine, "Come with me." Rose takes it and so do I. We start heading through the sliding doors, but then I stop. A tingling sensation is going through my hand, similar to the one that I experienced in alternate Pete and Jackie's house before I got zapped here. I let go of the Doctor's hand and he pauses, turning back to me. I yelp when a surge of electricity rushes through me.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asks, alarmed.

I open my mouth to reply, but it comes out as a strangled cry as one last wave of electricity flashes through me. And then I'm gone.


	4. Tick Tock Goes the Clock

**A/N: Fourth chapter up! **

**And thanks for the reviews, keep them coming! :D**

**Chapter 4**

**Tick Tock Goes the Clock**

I stumble and put my palms out in front of me so I wouldn't have a painful land and hit my head on the… carpet? I sharply turn my head in every direction, scanning the room that I am now in. Toys everywhere, a large wooden cabinet on my right, a bed with a small window above it to my left, and what looks like a small kid scared half to death sitting on the bed scrunched up in the corner.

Oh, now I know where I'm at. I'm in George's room, the frightened kid on the bed who is now starting to yell for help… Shit.

I quickly stand up from my kneeling position and sit on the edge of George's bed. "It's okay. I'm a – a friend!" I try to sooth him over his yelling.

He stops yelling and is now whispering, "Please save me from the monsters, please save me from the monsters."

I sigh in relief.

I then suddenly hear somebody burst through the door and I snap my head in that direction. My eyes widen at the sight of a worried and angry father holding a baseball bat firmly in his hands.

_Oh God, he's not going to hit me with that, is he?_

And before I knew it, my question came true.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I gasp and rise up from my laying position, my clothes drenched with water, and glare at the man in front of me. "Why the heck did you just pour a bucket of _ice cold_ water on me?!"

I exclaim angrily.

The Doctor smiles instead of answering my question. "How are you?" he asks, plopping down on the couch next to me, a little too close for my comfort.

I scooch over to my right a little, cooling down from my angry state. "I'm surprisingly fine, considering that you didn't even give me a _warning _that you were going to just pour cold water on me. You could've shook me awake instead of going through all that trouble. But hey, I guess normalcy doesn't exist where you come from."

He frowns a little, pouting. "You take the fun out of everything," he grumbles.

"Not true. So, how about you?"

He's taken off guard, probably not expecting me to ask him how _he's_ doing. "Me? I'm always fine," he says unconvincingly.

I scoff, "You always say that."

"Well, that's because it's true."

"The Doctor lies," I mutter quietly under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," I reply quickly, looking away.

The Doctor nods slowly and eyes me suspiciously.

I look over at him and catch him staring at me, "What?"

"How early is this for you?" he questions.

"Uh, really early. _Very _early. Why?"

He ignores my question and asks another, "So it wouldn't make sense for me to do this?"

_Do what? _I want to ask, but am cut off from him pressing his lips onto mine. _What?! _I'm not sure what to do, so I decide on just flailing my arms around in the air. His hands are cupping my face, the heat radiating off them. I put both my hands on his chest, trying to gently push him off. I can feel his hearts beating rapidly underneath my touch.

Two hearts. Wow, still not quite used to this.

Finally he breaks away and I stare wide－eyed at him, panting slightly. "What?" I whisper, bewilderment clear across my face.

He leans back to his original position and winks at me, smirking and straightening his bowtie. "Yup, still got it."

I'm still in shock, my mind a little fuzzy and my lips tingling. "What?" I say a little louder.

"Come on, time to meet Alex." He grabs my hand and pulls me up, dragging me out of the room towards the kitchen.

I decide to pull a Ten, and exclaim for a third time, "What?!"

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

"You whacked me with a baseball bat!" I exclaim angrily at Alex, George's dad. I'm currently sitting on the counter in the kitchen with my legs dangling over, while the Doctor and Alex are standing by the fridge.

"I said I was sorry! I thought you were a kidnapper. How many times do I have to repeat myself?" Alex replies.

"Until the day you're laying on your deathbed," I hiss sharply through clenched teeth, giving him my best death stare.

That seems to knock some sense into him because now fear is written all over his face and he takes a step back, tripping over a trash can and stumbling backwards. I was aiming for my reply to be somewhat threatening. Apparently it worked.

I smirk, still giving him my deathly stare. I kinda feel like Amy, assuming this is what she feels like when she gives her glare － sorta in control.

Then the Doctor chuckles, "It was actually a cricket bat, love. Cricket bats are flat on one side. Besides, baseball and cricket are two completely－" I shoot him the same glare and he abruptly shuts up.

I then take the time to realize that my burnt hands no longer sting. Neither does my arm from when the Cyberman's lazer got me. My face twists up in confusion as I stare down at my hands and notice that they're all covered up in bandages. I glance over at my arm and realize that the tie that was once tied around my arm was replaced with bandages as well. I turn my gaze to the Doctor, who is now looking at me like a cute innocent puppy. I roll my eyes, "What is it now?"

He shakes his head and shifts his eyes to the kitchen floor. I slide off of the counter, about to press onto the matter further, but suddenly the sound of glass shattering coming from George's room echoes throughout the apartment. In a swift second, Alex exits the kitchen and rushes into George's room. The Doctor and I follow behind and enter the small room.

George catches sight of two strangers walking into his room and asks, "Who are you?"

The Doctor crosses his arms and leans against the door frame. "I'm the Doctor, and－"

"I'm Ellie." I say, cutting off the Doctor so I could introduce myself, stepping into the room further. "The person your dad hit with a baseball bat."

"Cricket bat," the Doctor pipes up.

I spin in my spot and give him a 'Shut-up-or-I-will-cut-you' look.

George speaks up, "A Doctor, have you come to take me away?"

"No, George. I just want to talk to you," the Doctor says.

"Talk about what?"

The Doctor un－crosses his arms and walks into the room, standing right next to me. "About the monsters."

George then starts blinking repeatedly, and I snort while thinking about how ridiculous this is going to be.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I sit on the edge of George's bed with nothing to do except look through my dimensionally transcendental bag. I feel through it for anything that can end my boredom, and grin at what I find. I pull it out and look it over with awe. A sonic screwdriver. Apparently _my_ sonic screwdriver. It looks like an exact replica of the Tenth Doctor's sonic, except the colors are different. This one has a lavender tip to it and the handle is gold. "Amazing," I whisper breathlessly.

The Doctor hears me and turns around. His face lights up at what I'm holding in my hand. "Ah, yes! That's your sonic screwdriver."

I scoff jokingly, "Yeah, I think I gathered that, but thanks for telling me."

He smiles at me and then turns his attention to Alex and picks up a rubiks cube. "So, Alex, what do you think could've scared George?"

"Maybe it was things on the telly, you know?" Alex guesses.

"Right," the Doctor agrees, distracted by the cube he was now messing with.

Alex continues, "Scary stuff, getting under his skin. Frightening him."

The Doctor – who is still distracted – agrees again.

"So we stopped letting him watch."

The Doctor glances up, "Oh, you don't want to do that." He gives a little smile to George.

"Then Claire thought it might have been something he was reading," Alex suggests.

"Great!" The Doctor exclaims loudly, making me jump. "Reading's great. Do you like stories, George?" He faces George, who nods slightly.

"Yeah? Me too," he leans closer to George. "When I was your age – about, oh, a thousand years ago – I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans, The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes, Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday, eh? All the classics!" He grins and then throws the rubiks cube behind him, hitting me square in the forehead.

"Ow," I say dryly.

The Doctor glances at me and grimaces, "Oh, sorry. Probably going to be a bump there later on."

I glare at him.

"Anyway, that thing's rubbish. Must be broken, I hate those things," he finishes. Alex walks over to the cube that the Doctor just threw, picking it up. "Better tidy up though, eh?" The Doctor mutters and takes the cube from Alex. He then points to the cupboard, "How about in here?"

I look over to George as his eyes widen in fear of the cupboard and a small gasp escapes his mouth.

"No?" he questions George. "Not in the cupboard. Why not in there, George?"

Alex speaks up, "It's a… thing. Thing we got him doing ages back. Anything that frightens him – we put it in the cupboard. Creepy toys, scary pictures – that sort of thing."

"And is that where the monsters go?" He faces George again. The only response he gets is George blinking a few times.

"Yeah," the Doctor says. He turns around slowly, facing the cupboard.

I stand up from the bed and walk over to stand alongside the Doctor. He notices and gives me a small smile before turning his attention back to the cupboard.

"There's nothing to be scared of, George," he tries to reassure. "It's just a cupboard."

_Yeah, a cupboard where there's a dollhouse inside with wooden dollies out to get you, _I muse sarcastically.

We slowly walk up to the cupboard and reach out to touch its handle, but then a loud knock stops us. We both jump back.

Alex sighs, "Front door." He leaves the room without another word, going to answer the door.

The Doctor and I stand there quietly, listening to see who it is.

"Evenin'," we hear a deep male voice say.

"Oh, hi." Alex replies.

I look at the Doctor and we lock eyes. "Landlord," I whisper. He nods slowly, still listening to the conversation.

"How's Claire?" the landlord asks. I'm immediately reminded of my best friend, Claire, whose house I was walking home from before I supposedly transported to this dimension. My eyes become watery when I realize I'll never be able to see her or anyone else I knew ever again. The Doctor glances at me and notices my upset state. He nudges me, I look at him, and he gives me an understanding smile. I give him a weak smile in return, then tune back into the conversation being made in the next room.

"–How I hate to mention it, but it's that time again."

"Yes," Alex replies shortly.

"And you know I like my money prompt."

"The thing is, I still haven't found anywhere since the shop shut, and Claire's wage only goes so far. I thought we could, you know, come to some sort of arrangement."

The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver.

George speaks up, "Is that a torch?"

"Screwdriver," I correct quickly before the Doctor can. I walk over to George's bed and jump into the air, landing on the bed with a bounce. "A sonic one. And other stuff."

George eyes the sonic curiously, "Please, may I see the other stuff?"

The Doctor imitates me, jumping into the air, and flops down right next to me, our shoulders touching. "You may," he replies. He then swipes the sonic around the room, turning on toys and making them move.

"Ah, pretty cool, eh?" the Doctor exclaims, looking around at all the toys, grinning widely. He then looks at me, and I smile back just as enthusiastically, agreeing that it was, in fact, pretty cool.

George is watching his room in amazement. "That's better," the Doctor states. "No tears from George, that's what I've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier. Bit rusty at this. Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be…" he trails off as he stands up and scans the cupboard.

I jump off the bed and walk up next to him. I look over his shoulder and pretend to read the sonic's calculations. Even though I can't see anything – because all of the information automatically goes to his brain psychically – I still know what it says from the episode. "Off the scale, right?"

The Doctor nods and mumbles, "Off the scale, off the scale, off the scale. How?" He slowly sits back down on the edge of George's bed.

Alex then walks back into the room, "Right, sorry about that." He rushes to the cupboard and is about to open it, "So, have we got this thing open yet?"

The Doctor quickly jumps off the bed in a panic, "No! No, no, no, no, no!" He yells at the same time I shout, "You don't want to do that!"

Alex looks at us both, startled, "Why?"

I slowly get up and walk over to them, standing next to the Doctor. "Because," I say in all seriousness, "George's monsters are real."

Alex doesn't reply, and instead raises an eyebrow, looking at us like we're crazy.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

The Doctor, Alex, and I gather in the kitchen. I'm sitting on the countertop, watching as the Doctor frantically searches through all of the cabinets looking for mugs.

"You're supposed to be a professional! I'll never get him to sleep now. You're so… irresponsible!" Alex finishes his rant.

The Doctor glances at me, silently asking which cabinet the mugs are in. I pointedly look to the last one on the right. He then opens it, smiling slightly as he pulls out three mugs. He turns around towards Alex, "No, Alex. Responsible. Very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed. Something staring me in the face."

"Look, I'd like you to leave please. You're just making things worse."

The Doctor stays silent.

"Aw, you're making tea? I'm not British, I hate tea." I whine slightly.

He looks at me and smiles gently, "I know, that's why I thought I'd make you some hot chocolate instead." He kisses me on the cheek, "How does that sound?"

I grin at him, "That sounds wonderful, thank you."

_God, I am really liking Lovey Doctor. I could get used to this. _

He turns around again and starts putting the powder in the mugs.

Alex stomps over, "And would you stop making tea? I want you to leave!"

He takes the mugs away from the Doctor, but the Doctor takes them back again. "No," he protests and walks over to the fridge.

Alex is taken aback, "What? What do you mean 'no'?" The Doctor opens the fridge, but Alex rushes over and slams it shut. "Leave. Get out." The Doctor silently opens the fridge －again － and Alex shuts it － again. "Now, please."

Meanwhile, through the whole conversation, I'm trying to hold back my laughter, almost failing as a quiet giggle escapes my lips.

The Doctor leans up against the fridge, eyes locked with Alex's, stare unwavering.

"Okay, maybe this was a bad idea," Alex offers. The Doctor just raises his sorta－non－existent eyebrows. "We should sort out George ourselves."

I hop off the counter and lean against it, arms folded across my chest. I decide to take the Doctor's line, "Can't."

Alex glances over to me, "No one's gonna tell us how to run our lives. I don't care who you two are or what wheels have been set in motion. We'll sort it!"

"He's not just a professional. He's the Doctor."

"And she's my lovely Eleanor," the Doctor adds.

Alex looks between the two of us, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we've come a long way, Alex, a very long way. And George sent a message, a distress call, if you like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful, that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space."

"Eh?" Alex asks, looking completely lost.

The Doctor continues, "Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire. Through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex. Monsters are real."

Alex looks between us, dumbstruck, "You're not from Social Services, are you?"

I take this time to jump into the conversation. I clap my hands together once, "First things first. You got any Jammie Dodgers?" I point to the Doctor with my thumb and smile, "He's an addict."

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I'm sitting on the couch looking through a photo album, sipping my steamy hot chocolate while the Doctor is sitting next to me, glancing over my shoulder to see the pictures as well. I then (I don't even know why) start humming the 'Tick Tock Goes the Clock' tune from this episode. I hand the picture book over to the Doctor and kiss his cheek before getting up. "I'm going to go see how George is doing," I smile at him and he nods slowly, looking me in the eyes, silently telling me to be careful. I nod once and walk out of the living room to George's room.

I stand in the open doorway and knock twice, "Can I come in?"

George blinks a few times and I take that as a yes. I walk over to his bed and sit down, taking a sip of my scathing hot chocolate as silence falls. "So…" I start awkwardly. "How have you been?" I'm met with another series of blinks and more silence. "Right, sorry. I'm not really good with kids."

I sigh and stand up, walking over to the cupboard. I run my fingers along the wood slowly, all the way down to the handle. I pause when my fingers reach it and glance back at George. He stares back at me with terrified eyes and starts to pull his covers over his face.

"No sweetheart, it's okay," I reassure. "There's nothing to be afraid of." I glance back to the cupboard. "Here, I'll show you." I grasp the handle and swiftly pull open its doors. I instantly shut my eyes from the white, blinding light, and turn my head in the opposite direction of the cupboard. I open my eyes and see George rocking back and forth on his bed with his eyes shut and whispering 'Please save me from the monsters.'

I suddenly grab the cupboard doors as I feel myself being sucked into it. I try to pull myself further away from it, but it's no use. It feels like I'm a magnet and the cupboard's the fridge. I'm going to be stuck in an imaginary dollhouse and possibly be turned into a wooden dolly.

_Nope._ I'd rather that _not_ happen.

"Doctor!" I try to yell above the chaos that's happening inside the room. It's pulling me closer and closer and I can't stop it.

"Doctor, help!" I yell with all my strength, and the last thing I can hear is someone calling my name before everything turns black.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

Laughter. All I can hear is faint laughter. My eyes fly open and I try to scramble to my feet, but I can't. My legs feel like jello. I slump back down to the floor, trying to take in the fact that I'm in a dollhouse. An imaginary one. And I'm apparently in a small wooden bathtub. Strange. Didn't the Doctor and Alex wake up in a dining room? Who knows, I might have to fight off some creepy dolls until I find them. Good thing I got an A in my Self Defense class.

I rub the back of my head and try to stand up again, but more laughter stops me. Laughter that is getting louder by the second. I quietly gasp and finally make it to my feet, stumbling a little. I slowly step out of the wooden bathtub and take in my surroundings. A wooden toilet, wooden sink, and the wooden bathtub that I just stepped out of. I then come to the conclusion that I'm in the bathroom of the dollhouse. Why didn't that come to me earlier? The bathtub that I was laying in should've been the hint. Maybe I hit my head a little too hard.

I walk over to the door that's slightly open and peek my head out, looking left to right, then left again. Nope, clear. I slowly step out into the dim hallway and turn left.

The laughter starts to fade as I continue to walk as quietly as I can on the wooden floor. I suddenly stop and hold my breath as I hear someone – or rather _something_ – singing. The signing is muffled and I can't really make out the lyrics. I glance to the door on my right, and as I begin to move on again, I hear something moving inside the room. I walk back to the door and freeze. The signing is louder by that specific door. Curiosity takes its course and I find myself putting my ear up against the door. The lyrics to the singing are clear now, and I can make it out:

'_Tick__－__tock goes the clock,_

_He cradled and he rocked her_

_Tick__－__tock goes the clock,_

_Even for Eleanor'_

I gasp, stumble backwards, and run.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I keep running. I don't stop. The hallway seems to go on forever, turning right to left every once in a while. The dolls basically just sang that I was going to die. I mean everybody dies, but hearing something say 'Tick－tock goes the clock, even for Eleanor' a.k.a _you're going to die_ is worse.

I abruptly skid to a stop as the sound of screaming echoes through the hallway. I swiftly turn around and freeze. Several dolls are huddled up beside a pair of double doors and are pounding on them, trying to get them to open.

Crap, Amy and Rory are trapped in there. And this is also the scene where Amy gets turned into a wooden dolly. I need to do something.

Without being noticed, I quickly dig into my 'bigger－on－the－inside' bag and pull out my sonic screwdriver. Hopefully it has a setting for wood. If it doesn't, I'm screwed.

_Okay, Eleanor. Just point and think. _

I hold up the sonic in my hand, point directly at the dolls, and press a random button.

Suddenly, the dolls stop pounding on the doors and collapse to the floor. I pocket the screwdriver and rush to the doors, "Amy, Rory! It's Ellie," I yell through the doors. "I stopped the dolls, but I don't know how much time we've got until they get back up again! You need to open the doors now!" The doors open with a creak and I'm braced into a three－way hug.

"I thought I was going to be turned into a wooden dolly!" Amy exclaims. "Thank you so much, Ellie."

"N－ no problem." I smile and we let go of the hug. I'm so dazed right now from meeting the Ponds that I'm kind of lost with my words.

"Yeah, thanks. I don't think I would like having a killer doll as a wife," Rory adds.

I roll my eyes and giggle as Amy shoots him a glare. I then see the dolls starting to move again. I grab both of their hands in a panic, "Run!"

We quickly jump over the moving dolls that are still on the floor. As we pass a hallway, I suddenly feel Amy let go of my hand and cry out. Rory and I stop and turn around simultaneously to see what's wrong. "Amy!" Rory and I shout in unison as we watch in horror. One of the dolls has a hold on Amy's free wrist. We watch, eyes wide, as she screams and is slowly converted into another dolly. Red yarn complete with a bonnet has replaced her long ginger waves and her body is now all wood. Amy – who is now a doll – slowly turns her head in our direction and starts walking towards us, the other dolls following.

Rory stays still as I stumble backwards up the stairs. I grab his hand, "Rory, I'm so sorry. The Doctor will fix this, we just have to go. Now!" He nods and trips over the mop he's holding, pushing the dolls away with it and walking backwards up the stairs. "Here," I say, taking the mop away from Rory and whacking a random doll as hard as I could. And by 'random doll,' I mean the doll Amy got converted into. _Oops._ We watch as she somersaults backwards down the stairs, landing at the bottom with a loud 'thunk'. I turn to Rory looking sheepish, "Please don't tell her I did that, I'll never hear the end of it."

He looks at me, stunned. "You pushed my wide down the stairs!" he exclaims.

I laugh a little and he just looks at me, offended. "Yes, sorry. But on the bright side, we're still alive! Now c'mon! The dolls are coming closer." I glance back at the dolls, pushing them away with the mop.

"Ellie, Rory!" A familiar voice calls and I turn around to see the Doctor.

"Doctor!" I say cheerfully, very glad to see him.

"Where's Amy?" he asks.

Rory points to Amy the Doll and the Doctor's eyes widen. "Oh－no. George!" the Doctor yells. "George, you have to face your fears, you have to face them now. You have to open the cupboard. We will all be trapped in here forever in a living death. George!"

By this point, my wrist that the vortex manipulator is strapped to is starting to tingle. My eyes widen and I swallow nervously. The tingling sensation has spread to my other arm now and is spreading throughout my whole body. "Please not now," I plead the vortex manipulator and the universe. "Doctor!" I cry, and he has just enough time to turn around and lock eyes with me before the vortex manipulator sparks, and I'm suddenly pulled from this time period to the next. But before I leave completely, I barely spot a faintly glowing crack on the wall beside me.


	5. Distracted

**A/N: Thanks to all who have been sticking with this story so far, we really appreciate it! **

**grapjuice101: I'm glad you like the story! We post a chapter every week (up to chapter 7, then maybe 2 weeks), so keep updated! :D**

**Cally Starkiller: Haha, yeah. **_**Acrossdimensions **_**and I like to put some humor into our stories, and we thought that that would totally be something that Rory would say. Anyway, now that I think about it, Ellie does have a twist of Amy in her. We also have a whole plot line already created for Ellie with the whole crack idea, and we can't wait to write it and post it! **

**Thanks for the reviews, and on to chapter 5! **

**Chapter 5**

**Distracted**

I successfully land this time, only swaying a bit and getting a little lightheaded, but nothing I can't handle. I briefly look around and discover that I'm in a very small room. I look straight ahead and see a TV screen with a _Weeping Angel_ on it. I gasp.

My only thought:

_Don't. Blink._

"Ellie, how's it doing that?" I hear a familiar Scottish voice ask. The Weeping Angel has its head turned to the left slightly, back still turned to us. Amy moves further up to the screen, staring at the Angel curiously. She then glances down at the recording time, and so do I, not very familiar with this episode, and not aware that I'm not looking at the Angel, and neither is Amy. Then it suddenly hits me. _Oh, crap. _We both glance up in sync and gasp. The Weeping Angel is now closer, facing us with its arms outstretched towards us.

"Amy," I warn. "Keep your eyes on that thing. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink." My voice cracks on the last word, my hands trembling. This is the first time I've ever met the Weeping Angels, I have the right to be a little scared. Actually, no, wrong wording. I have the right to be _terrified._

"Why? What happens if I blink?" She asks, slightly panicked.

"It will get you. And when it does, it will send you back in time and leave you to die so it can feed off of your potential time energy."

"Oh, great."

"Or it can just kill you right away by snapping your neck," I add nonchalantly.

Amy's eyes widen and she steps backwards, "Let's get out of here," she says without taking her eyes off the Angel.

Click.

The door suddenly closes and locks.

"We can't," I state flatly. "The door's locked. Try turning the screen off with the remote on your right."

"Who locked the door?" she asks, picking up the remote.

"The Angels."

Amy holds the remote firmly in her hands and presses the 'off' button for the TV. It flashes black but then turns back on. She presses the button two more times, but it just turns back on again. She puts the remote back on the desk and moves closer up the the TV screen. "But you're just a recording," she mutters to the Angel. "You can't move." She looks down at the TV's power plug and starts tugging at it.

The something hard and sharp hits me in the back. I swiftly turn around, alarmed and curious.

I stare at the object on the floor with wide eyes.

Right next to my foot is the TARDIS's rooftop lamp, steaming a bit. I hear a whisper in the back of my mind, "_**The Pandorica will open…**_" I glance to my right to see a closing crack.

Is this a warning?

I make sure Amy isn't looking my way, then quickly pick up the lamp, dropping it into my bigger－on－the－inside bag.

That's when I realize that I've been completely ignorant to the Weeping Angel. Again. I reluctantly glance back up and notice that it's popping out of the screen and Amy is leaning up against the locked door. I gasp and rush up to the door, taking out my sonic screwdriver from my pocket and pointing it at the handle.

But it's not working.

I groan and smack it against my palm. I point it at the lock and concentrate on getting us out of here with all I'm worth, but yet again, the lock won't break.

"Doctor," Amy yells through the door. "It's in the room!" She tries pushing random security code buttons by the door.

"Amy, are you alright? What's happening?!" The Doctor yells back.

I pound on the door and yell, "Doctor, it's coming out of the TV!"

"Eleanor?!" he shouts loudly through the door, sounding surprised and his voice goes up an octave in worriment.

"Yup, that's me! _Now get us out of here_!" I screech impatiently at him and slight hysteria fills my voice.

"Okay, don't take your eyes off of it. Keep looking at it. It can't move if you're looking!"

I roll my eyes, "Just please hurry!"

"I'm trying! Just don't blink Amy, Ellie. Don't even blink!"

"Help us!" Amy hollers.

"Can you turn it off?" the Doctor asks.

I scoff, "You think we wouldn't have tried that already?! Of course we can't!"

"Try again. Now, don't take your eyes off the Angel."

"Yes, I think we get it now, thanks!" I shout back sarcastically.

"The next time it moves, it'll move faster!"

"I'm not blinking!" Amy complains. "Have you ever tried not blinking?!" She feels around the table for the TV remote before finding it, picking it up, and pushing the 'off' switch. It turns itself back on once again as she says, "It just keeps switching back on!"

"Yup, that's the Angel," the Doctor replies.

"But it's just a recording," she mutters.

"No, whatever takes the image of an Angel is an Angel."

"Doctor, if I blink it's going to send me back in time, yeah?"

"How did you know that?"

"El told me," Amy responds shortly.

The Doctor sighs, "Yes, it'll feed off your potential energy. But I won't let that happen. I'll get your two out of there. Just don't stop looking!" He leaves for a couple of seconds before returning. "Ellie, Amy, not the eyes. Don't look in the eyes."

"I'm not!" I yell. I then hear the Doctor saying something, but it's muffled so I can't quite make it out.

Amy, still keeping her eyes glued to the Angel asks, "What did you say?"

"Don't look at the eyes!"

"No, about images. What did you say about images?"

River speaks up for the first time. "Whatever holds the image of an Angel is an Angel."

Amy grabs my hand and squeezes it. "Okay, hold this. One… two… three… four!" She presses down hard on the 'off' button and it finally shuts off, the Angel going with it. River and the Doctor are now able to open the door and come into the room, "I paused it! There was this sort of blip on the tape and I paused it on the blip. It wasn't an image of an Angel anymore," she laughs, relieved about the situation and I join in. "That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

"That was amazing," River praises.

"River," the Doctor says. "Hug Ellie and Amy."

"Why?" Amy and I ask in sync.

"'Cause I'm busy."

"Um, I don't know about Amy," I start while Amy gives me an annoyed look. "But I'm perfectly fine."

"And me," Amy adds.

"You're both brilliant!" River praises for a second time.

"Thanks!"

I smile almost smugly, "Thanks, Mels."

They all stop what they're doing and stare up at me with confusion on their faces, except River, whose face is completely void of emotion.

_Whoops, too early, _I remind myself. I forgot this is only season five. They don't know who Melody is yet.

River nudges me to come up with an explanation. I clear my throat, "I－ I mean 'thanks River!' I was thinking of another friend that reminds me of you, that's all." I nod towards River and she just smiles, while the Doctor narrows his eyes at me. I give him a 'I'm－one－hundred－percent－innocent' look, and he seems to buy it.

"We kinda creamed it, didn't we?" Amy asks in that way of hers, and I giggle.

"So it was here. That was the Angel," River clarifies.

"That was a projection of the Angel," the Doctor replies. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us," he swallows. "It's no longer dormant."

I then jump back slightly when a loud explosion shakes the floor. We all look towards the door while the Doctor pops his head out to see what it was. Somebody says something to him, but again, it's too quiet for me to hear. He glances back at us, "Okay, now it starts." I grin as he runs out of the door. I'm about to follow him, but then I notice Amy turning around and touching her eye, and I frown.

_She has the Angel in her eye._

I walk up to her and tap her shoulder lightly. She turns around to look at me in question. "Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, there's just something in my eye."

I shake my head, "You have no idea,"

Amy opens her mouth to respond, but River cuts in, "Coming?"

We both nod and head out after River.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

"Doctor, hurry it up down there, will ya?" I call below me, rolling my eyes at the sight of the Doctor struggling to get down the ladder.

"I'm trying, but my foot is stuck!" he whines as I wait for him to get his foot untangled from the ladder. I gasp as the ladder suddenly jolts. I grasp onto it while shooting a glare at the struggling Doctor for making me have a mini heart attack.

"Sorry!" he calls up to me, but I ignore him. I sigh, just finally noticing how incredibly tired I am. _Man, I haven't slept for at least thirty__－__six hours! How have I been able to stay awake? Hmm, let me see. Maybe it's the fact that my favorite TV show is actually real, I've been hanging around with fictional characters, I'm getting stalked by a crack in the wall, I keep getting zapped from one part of the Doctor's timeline to another with a vortex manipulator that's stuck to my wrist, I may never be able to get home again, I have to pretend I'm a psychic and lie to everybody like Shawn Spencer from Psych, and… oh yeah. The Doctor kissing me. And me kissing back. _

I abruptly snap out of my musings as a hand tugs on my ankle, causing me to nearly shriek. I sigh, realizing who it is. "Yes?" I call down to the Doctor.

"Are you okay?"

I hesitate, wondering if he was staring at me the whole time I was thinking. "Yeah, fine. Just a little tired, but fine." That's actually not what I wanted to say. What I really wanted to say was that I'm not at all fine from these last few hours, and that I am extremely exhausted to the point where I could sleep on the cold, hard, dirty ground and it wouldn't bother me. _Cues Taylor Swift _－ '_now I'm lyin' on the cold, hard ground'. _

The Doctor seems to notice that I am clearly lying and adds, "You know, there's always the option of resting in the TARDIS, if you'd like."

"No," I reply quickly as the Doctor hops off the ladder and helps me down. "I mean, I want to be here," Nope. Another lie. Well, sorta. "There's so much excitement. I wouldn't miss it for the world." I seriously just want to crawl in a hole and pass out.

He eyes me carefully, "You sure?"

"Yup," I try to smile reassuringly. I don't think it works.

The Doctor takes a flashlight and looks around while I stay by Amy. "Do we have a gravity globe?" he asks.

"Grav globe," Octavian orders. One of the soldiers hands a white looking sphere to the Doctor.

"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asks.

"It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead." River says.

"What's that?"

The Doctor glances around the cave, "Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," he starts, kicking the white gravity globe into the air. The globe illuminates, revealing more Weeping Angels (which they don't know of yet) and carved buildings which they are standing on. "The perfect hiding place."

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian says while staring up at the statues.

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor agrees.

Octavian points his flashlight to look at the statues. "A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."

"A needle in a hay stack," River says.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay－like needle of death," the Doctor rambles. "A hay－like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues." He then shakes his head, "No, yours was fine."

Quiet laughter escapes my lips and the Doctor looks at me, "What's so funny?"

I point at him, trying to speak through giggles. I finally choke out the word, "You!"

He continues to stare at me strangely, but with a slightly amused smile, while I calm down. I look at him sheepishly, "Proceed," I say, trying to look professional, but I know I can't keep a straight face. I then go on laughing again. The Doctor thought best to ignore me, which is probably a good idea, turning around and gazing at the Angels again.

"Right," Octavian speaks up, breaking the silence. "Check every single statute in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question; How do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope." The Doctor takes off while Amy follows.

I'm about to follow them, but River suddenly takes a hold on my arm. "We need to talk," she tells me. But then Octavian grabs River's arm and pulls her back a little, me running into her.

"He doesn't know yet, does he? Who and what you are."

"It's too early in his time stream," I reply before River has the chance.

Octavian stares at me, surprised. "How would you know that?"

"Because, well, er…" I stammer, thinking about what Jack told me on Platform One. "I'm psychic," I say, putting a hand on my hip and trying to play it smoothly.

Octavian chuckles, "What, would you like to read my palm? Go on, tell me my future."

I scoff and wave my hand, "Oh, that wouldn't be too hard."

Octavian then stops chuckling and looks at me, challengingly. I smirk while River pulls me aside, "Tell me, how early is this for you?"

I frown, "Why does everybody keep asking me that? Yes, this is early for me. _Very _early. Your point?"

"My point is that you have to keep your mouth shut about stuff like that, it's dangerous."

"Everybody keeps telling me what to do! I'm nineteen, I think I can handle these things on my own." I exclaim, upset. "You know what Melody? I'm done following everyone else's rules." With that, I turn around and walk in the opposite direction, following the Doctor and Amy.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

Twenty minutes have flown by and no sign of the Doctor or Amy. God, I'm lost. I'm lost with only a bunch of Weeping Angels to keep me company. That's _not _reassuring. What am I going to do? Keep on wandering around, or stay in one spot and let them find me? I sigh and sit down on a large rock and wait. I feel like young Amelia Pond, waiting for a mad man with a box to come and rescue me. God, I'm so tired. If I just close my eyes for a minute…

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I open my eyes and quickly sit up in the bed. Multiple blankets are spread over me, my legs twisted up in them. I carefully untangle them, and put my feet on the floor. I stare around the room and blink once. "What just happened?" I mutter to myself.

Someone then suddenly pops into the room and grins, "Finally, you're awake! I was so worried."

I stare at the person, immediately recognizing that it's my friend Claire.

She walks over and sits on the bed next to me. "Are you okay? You just kind of passed out on the couch when we were watching a movie. The funny thing is that you did it when you were in the middle of talking. I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't move an inch."

I blink.

"I–I don't understand. I was at…" I trail off, forgetting what I was about to say. "It's on the tip of my tongue! I know it's something very important, I just can't remember…"

She gives me a hug, "That's okay, I'm just so glad you're fine. I was going to phone my parents, but you know how they're out of the country in London, and I wouldn't want to wake them."

_They are?_ "Oh, yeah. That's right…"

She smiles, "Wanna go finish that movie?"

I smile back, "Sure."

We walk into the living room and Claire turns on the TV, selecting the Netflix icon. I sit on the couch and wait. She then sits next to me and turns on 'Doctor Who', and then 'The Impossible Astronaut'. We watch as angry people march towards a set of double doors and shout, "Doctor!" They pound on the door and the doors burst open. Then a picture comes on the screen of a partially naked Doctor up in the clouds holding a trident in his right hand. "Where's the Doctor?" the angry man asks a beautiful woman with strawberry blond hair and ice blue eyes.

"That's Amethyste," Claire whispers to me.

"Um, who? I've never heard of her before…"

"Nobody really knows who she is yet. She's just a mystery waiting to be solved."

I nod, not really understanding, and tune back into the episode.

"Doctor who?" the woman － apparently Amethyste － asks with a smile on her face. And then the Doctor coughs under her long gown, causing the angry man to take his sword and slowly pull up the women's dress a little. Out comes the Doctor's head, smiling. The man stares at him, furious.

"You know," the Doctor starts. "This isn't nearly as bad as it looks." Amethyste begins to giggle and so do Claire and I.

But then Amethyste looks down at her wrist where a vortex manipulator is. She frowns, "Uh－oh. Time for me to go, Doctor."

The Doctor's eyes widen, "No, don't leave me! I don't have any clothes on!"

"Sorry, Doctor. Looks like you're going to have to sort this one out yourself." With that, she vanishes with a spark and the scene switches over to Rory putting grocery bags on the counter.

All of a sudden, everything goes dark.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I swiftly open my eyes and sit up. I rub my sore back, taking in my surroundings. Wow, I'm still where I'd been. I'm still in the Maze of the Dead, where I'd been sleeping on the hard, dusty ground. Wait, was I sleeping? That dream was so vivid and it felt so real, and who the hell was Amethyste? Instead of the woman with the violet gown who was originally in the episode, another woman replaced her. What if…?

_Okay, just stop. _My head is already spinning from all of my unanswered questions. _Just stay cool, calm, and… _wait. Did something just move there?

I look to my right and see several Aplans, which are actually Weeping Angels, about ten feet away from me. I shriek and stumble backwards. I stare at them, not even daring to blink. I slowly start to walk backwards, before hearing a wonderful man call, "El, over here!" I grin in relief and follow his voice, trying not to trip over anything in the process. I then feel a hand take mine and I lock eyes… with Octavian. _God, who does he think he is?_ I suddenly let go of his hand with a look of disgust on my face and take the Doctor's hand which is nearby. The Doctor gives me a smile, which I return. He looks at Octavian, "Yeah. Called you an idiot. Sorry, but we couldn't have rescued your men."

"I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families," Octavian replies coldly. He then walks away, leaving the Doctor staring in the distance.

I give him a reassuring smile, "You tried your best."

He shakes his head, "No, I didn't." He holds up the walkie talkie, "Angel Bob. Which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?"

Angel Bob's voice comes through the walkie talkie, "_Yes, sir. And the other Angels are still restoring._"

"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." The Doctor takes off running, me by his side. We pass Amy who is just standing there. "Don't wait for me. Go, run!"

I then suddenly realize what's going on. I let go of the Doctor's hand and walk back over to Amy.

"I can't," she replies. The Doctor stops in his tracks and looks Amy in the eyes. "No, really, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Wait," I say. "If I remember correctly, she thinks her hand is－"

"Stone," Amy finishes for me. "And I don't think it is. _It is_."

The Doctor flashes his flashlight in Amy's eyes, "You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?"

"I couldn't stop myself. I tried."

"Listen to me. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

"It is. Look at it!" she snaps.

"It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't, okay? I tried, and I can't. It's stone."

The Doctor's flashlight flickers on and off. "The Angel is going to come, and it's going to turn this light off, and there's nothing I can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand."

"I can't."

"Then we're all going to die."

Amy furrows her eyebrows, "You two aren't going to die."

"They'll kill the lights."

"You have to go. You know you have. Doctor, you've got all that stuff with River and Ellie andㅡ"

"Um, what?" I interrupt, referring to the part where she said my name.

"Nothing," they both say simultaneously. I just stare at them, irritated that they're hiding something from me. _Ugh, I'll deal with them later._

"Anyway, time can be re－written. It doesn't work like that," the Doctor says. His flashlight then flickers on and off again, and I hold back a shriek as the Angels begin to come closer. "Keep you eyes on it. Don't blink."

"Run!" Amy shouts.

"You see, we're not going. We're not leaving you here."

I start to back away, "Well, you can stay here, butㅡ" He then grabs my upper arm lightly, making his point that I'm not going anywhere. I bite my lip, "Fine."

"I don't need both of you to die for me. Do I look that clingy?" Amy asks.

"Not really," I reply, even though I know it was a rhetorical question. Amy almost shoots me a glare, but can't since she has to keep her eyes on the Angels.

"You can move your hand," the Doctor keeps trying to tell her.

"It's stone," Amy replies.

"It's not stone!"

"You've got to go. Those people up there will die without you. If you two stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."

"Amy Pond, you are magnificent," the Doctor praises. "And I'm sorry." He then whispers to me, "Bite her hand, now."

"It's okay, I understand. You've got to leave me," Amy says.

I stare at him, "No!" I hiss back quietly.

"You have to! It's the only way," he replies.

I glare at him sharply, "This one time." The Doctor grins at me. "We're never going to leave you, Amy. I'm sorry about this." I then quickly bite Amy's hand as she yelps and cradles her hurt hand. "See? Not stone. Now run!"

She looks at the Doctor, and then to me. "You bit me."

"Yup, and you're alive."

"Look, I've got a mark. Look at my hand."

I look at her hand and scoff, "You call that a mark? And you're alive. Did I mention?"

"Blimey, your teeth! Have you got space teeth?"

"No, but I know the Doctor does," I respond while earning a look from the Doctor. "And yeah. Alive. All I'm saying." Amy starts to run back through the entrance they came from, while the Doctor quickly grabs my hand and drags me along. Once we make it back, the Doctor drops my hand and moves past Octavian and the other soldiers.

I stand by Amy and tune into the conversation, "ㅡWe're down to four men, expect incoming." Octavian says.

"Yup, that's the Angels," the Doctor replies. "They're coming, and they're draining the power for themselves."

"Which means we won't be able to see them."

"Which means we can't stay here." Suddenly, all the lights go out for just a moment, and then come back on.

"Two more, incoming!" Octavian exclaims. I look ahead to see a Aplan Angel in the doorway of the tunnel.

"Any suggestions?" River asks, surprisingly calm.

"The statues are advancing on all sides. We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium."

"There's no way in, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a _really _good idea."

"And please don't tell me you have to wing it," I add.

"There's always a way out," the Doctor says. And then the lights start to flicker again. "There's always a way out," he repeats confidently.

Angel Bob's voice rings out and the Doctor picks up the walkie talkie, "Hello, Angels. What's your problem?"

"_You probably won't last much longer. And the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir."_

"Why are you telling me this?"

"_There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."_

"Which is?"

"_I died in fear," Angel Bob says._

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor glances to me, and I shrug, not really paying attention to what's going on.

"_You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."_

I faintly hear Amy whisper to River, "What are they doing?"

"They're trying to make him angry," River replies.

"_Sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that."_

"Well, the Angels have made their second mistake, because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."

"_But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."_

I then swiftly run up to the Doctor and take the walkie talkie out of his hands, "Hello, Angel Bob. This is Ellie, reporting." The Doctor tosses me a smile and I laugh, before getting serious. "We know we're trapped, and speaking of traps, this trap has one _minor_ mistake. Okay, no, a _huge _mistake." I hand it back over to the Doctor, satisfied that I got my part in the conversation and he beams at me.

"_What mistake, Eleanor Archer?"_

My satisfaction quickly ends, though, as my breath hitches in my throat upon hearing Angel Bob say my full name. _How does he know that…? _The Doctor then walks past me, snapping me out of my thoughts, and walks up to Amy. "Trust me?"

"Yeah."

He then glances to River, "Trust me?"

"Always."

He looks at Octavian, "You lot ㅡ trust me?" One of the other soldiers warns us about the Angels.

Octavian nods, "We have faith, sir."

The Doctor then walks up to me and stares me in the eyes, "Trust me?"

I grin, forgetting about the Angel. "With my life."

The Doctor grins back and claps silently, facing Octavian. "Give me your gun." Octavian hands the gun over to him. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do…" He jumps in place. "Jump."

"Jump where?" Octavian asks.

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

I look at the Doctor, "What signal?"

"You won't miss it!" He aims the gun up in the air.

Angel Bob's voice comes through the walkie talkie, "_Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?"_

"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

"_And what would that be, sir?"_

"Me." The Doctor fires the gun at the gravity globe, and then it explodes into a sea of dancing lights.

This is going to be one _hell _of a few hours.


	6. Did You Miss Me?

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is a bit late, I didn't have internet for a couple days because we moved.**

**Enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time. **

**Chapter 6**

**Did You Miss Me?  
><strong>

"Up! Look up!" the Doctor exclaims while standing up and looking, well, up. I get to my feet and stare above me, catching on quickly. We moved. We're on the _Byzantium_ now.

"You two okay?" River asks Amy and I, helping her up. I nod.

"What happened?" Amy asks.

"We jumped," River says, the same time I say 'we moved'.

Amy looks between us, "Jumped? Moved where?"

"Just look _up_," I say, pointing up above.

She looks up and her eyes widen, "Where are we?"

"Exactly where we were," River explains.

Amy shakes her head, "No, we're not."

The Doctor walks up to me. "Move your feet," he orders. I cross my arms and give him a pointed look. The Doctor rolls his eyes, "Please?"

"Sure," I say and quickly move away from an indentation in the ground that I was standing on, and the Doctor scans it with his screwdriver. "_Sweetie_." River instantly looks in my direction. "What? It's not like you're the only one that can say it." She ignores me and I sigh, cursing my bluntness.

Amy looks around, "Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain!"

I nudge her shoulder playfully, "Come on, Amy. The ship crashed with the power still on. So, what else is on?"

"The artificial gravity. One good jump," the Doctor explains while jumping up, "and up we fell. Shot out the grav－globe to give us an updraft, and here we are!" He then continues to scan the indentation in the ground.

Octavian speaks up, pointing his gun at the Angels above us. "Doctor, the statues. They look more like Angels now."

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army!" The Doctor gives one last whirl of his screwdriver and the indentation opens up, revealing a passage way. Then, just a couple of feet away from me, a flashlight sparks and goes out, causing me to take a couple steps back away from any other flashlights. "They're taking out the lights. Look at them, look at the Angels. Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you!" He then slips into the hole with me close behind.

When I'm about to go in, Amy asks, "Ellie, how?"

I grin, "Watch." She just stares at me blankly while I slip into the hole. I hold back my laughter as it feels like I'm floating and then turned around by the gravitational pull. I suddenly land on my feet, my arms out to my sides. I look up and smile while Amy is still staring at me with a confused look on her face, and I make a 'come－on' movement with my hand. She continues to stay silent, confused about how it's possible to be standing upright, and I move up to stand beside the Doctor.

"It's just a corridor," he says. "The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!" He rushes up to a keypad with me close behind, using his sonic screwdriver on it. We hear Octavian ordering his men to go, as the keypad starts beeping. The Doctor and I listen to it intently, him looking over his screwdriver while Octavian and his men join us.

"The Angles," Octavian starts. "Presumably they can jump up too?" The entrance that we came through then swiftly closes.

"They're here," I say to the Doctor. "Probably a good time to start running…"

"Yup, always a good time," the Doctor replies quickly. He then grabs my hand and glances at me with a small smile on his face. "Run!" I grin, even though it's not at all the time or place, and we start to run in the opposite direction before coming to a halt when the door suddenly closes, blocking our only exit.

"This whole place is a death trap," Octavian says.

"No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb," the Doctor rambles. "And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." I stare at the Doctor with a raised eyebrow while the Angels try to come in the exterior door. "Oh, just me then. What's through here?"

"Secondary flight deck," River replies instantly.

"Okay, so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah? So what if the gravity fails?" Amy inquires. I walk up to stand by River while she works on trying to bypass the power. She glances at me, but doesn't say a word.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I shouldn't have stormed off like that," I apologize.

"No, that's okay. You had your reasons," she responds without looking up. I was going to say more, but I decide to shut my mouth for now.

"ㅡTwo minutes," the Doctor finishes.

I suddenly turn towards the Doctor. "Wait, two minutes until wha－" I start to say, but I'm cut off as an electrical charge goes through me. My eyes widen and I look down at the ground. _No! I don't want to go now!_

"Ellie, what's going on?" the Doctor asks.

I slowly look up again to see that the Doctor is right beside me, his face masked with worry and concern. Just then the vortex manipulator strapped to my wrist starts to spark. The Doctor stands back as everybody else does, and he just stares at me with sad eyes that just makes me want to break down. "I have to go…" I say just above a whisper, not wanting to meet his gaze. The tingling sensation has already spread, but just before I'm about to go, the Doctor swiftly walks back up to me and pulls me in close to him, and then I disappear.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I land on a hard, wooden floor and gasp, out of breath. My knees are on the ground, my palms out in front of me. My hair is in my face, its long, brunette locks dangling before me. But I see something else. Someone is in front of me. The person's shoes are black heels. _Hmm… wood floor, black heels. Why does this look so familiar? _I ponder as I try to connect the dots. My mind just gives me a blank explanation. I roll my eyes and slowly look up, my hair still in my line of vision. A woman is in front of me. Well, that would explain the heels. If it was a _man,_ well, I wouldn't really know what to say to that. I can barely see the woman with my hair in front of me, but I can just make out a smirk playing on her lips. It's not a 'happy' smirk as you would so call it, but more of a sly smirk. Uh… that can't be a very good sign.

"Well, looks like we meet again, my dear Eleanor."

I freeze and hold my breath, recognizing that voice all too well from the eighth season of 'Doctor Who'.

Oh, shit.

Missy.

_The Master._

I watch as she walks around me, whipping her umbrella up in the air. I turn around to where she now stands and finally whip my hair back. I take in her clothing and notice that it's the same clothes she wore in the episode 'Dark Water' and 'Death in Heaven'. I bite my lip.

She smiles, "Oh, you haven't been greeted yet." She starts to walk back over to me.

I quickly knew what she meant by that and I stand up, stumbling a bit, but make it to my feet. "No, no! I'm fine," I say with a shaky voice, putting my hands out in front of me to stop her from coming any closer. I wouldn't want _the Master_ to get his, or should I say _her_ lips all over mine. She narrows her eyes at me. I smile back nervously. "Uh… so! It finally happened then, eh? You regenerated into a girl."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," she replies while ruffling her hair. "I do have a question for you though. Where is the Doctor?"

I press my lips together, not wanting to say. It's not that I'm afraid of what she'll do to me if I don't tell her (well, actually, I am), it's just that I honestly don't know where he is right now. I've only seen this episode once, I can't remember every single little detail.

But wait. How does she know that I must know this?

She smiles once again and begins to walk around me, "I'm only giving you one warning, Ellie."

"I don't know. You can't hurt me if I don't know."

"Who says I was going to hurt you?" She then takes out a gun and points it directly at me. "Want to tell me where he is now?"

I begin to panic while trying to figure out what the Doctor would do in this situation. He's been in lots of places like this, but not me. No, I've never even been _near _a gun, and here I am, about to be disintegrated by an alien that shouldn't have been able to escape from a secure time lock. Well, I guess it wasn't _that _secure. If the Master could get out of it, does that mean that all of the other Time Lords including Rassilon could escape too? No, don't think about that right now. The Doctor would probably try to talk his way out of it, or tell them lies to buy him time. I was always the one to talk a lot anyway when I was nervous. And right now, I think you could guess that I am on the verge of breaking down. _Don't let her see it though, _I tell myself. Or maybe I could go with the approach that Clara did in 'Deep Breath' when she was given an option to tell the truth or she would die. That could work, maybe. I really don't have a choice right now though.

"Do it," I deadpan, trying to keep my face straight with no traces of emotion.

The gun clicks. "Tell me where he is _now_."

"You can go ahead and shoot me, because I'm not going to tell you where he is."

"Oh, you always were so stubborn," she says while putting away the disintegrator gun and taking out a different gun that looks extremely similar to a pistol. "Looks like I'm going to have to put it a different way then." But before I can act on it, she aims the gun at me and pulls the trigger.

BANG!

Everything seems to go in slow motion. I slowly fall to my knees, trying to comprehend what just happened, but my brain isn't working. I can hear my heart beating rapidly in my ears while I clutch my right shoulder that Missy just shot, and I can faintly feel the blood seeping through my fingers. I try to get to my feet to try to find the Doctor, but of course, I can't. And I won't. Even if I could, the pain is too excruciating. I can't think, my mind is fuzzy. As I sway and start to fall forwards, I can just make out the feeling of somebody catching me before I slip into unconsciousness.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I slowly open my eyes to stare at a white ceiling with a white fan. My last thoughts of what happened is muffled, but I know something happened between Missy and I. And then everything's blank after that. Dammit.

But where am I now?

I sit up from my laying position and suddenly feel a sharp pain go through my right shoulder. I swiftly look over at it and notice that it's covered in bandages. _Oh, yeah. I was shot by Missy. Super, _I muse sarcastically. I then look up and scan the room. White, white, white. Everything is white. Like a hospital. But no, that's not right. I must be in… the TARDIS, right?

Then that means the Doctor must've caught me before I fell. And I still can't get over the fact that I've met the Master as a _woman, _and just when we met she shot me. She's so going to get it once I find a way out of here.

I turn my body around and put my feet on the cold, tile floor. _God, why is it so cold in here?_ I rub my hands up and down my arms, and almost do a double take on the fact that I'm not wearing a shirt. No, I'm not totally nude, I'm still wearing a bra. But he did take off my shirt… Suddenly something moves out of the corner of my eye. I sharply turn my gaze over to a small table to my left where a brand new blouse lay folded up. I glance up at the ceiling and silently thank the TARDIS in relief. I grab the shirt from the table and quickly put it on before opening up the door to leave the infirmary and to venture out in the corridors.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I enter the console room after an hour has passed of trying to look for it, and basically skip over to the door. Yes, I'm excited in a very bad way. I'm also very terrified of being shot again by the Master. Hmm… a mixture of excitement and terror. An interesting mix.

I pull on the handle of the door, but it doesn't open. I then notice a small piece of paper taped to the door.

_Stay put._

My eyes suddenly go fierce and I pound my fists against the door, "You can't do this, Doctor!" The TARDIS suddenly gives a low hum, and I can feel that she didn't like that. "Sorry," I mutter. "I'm just mad at him. I don't want to be left out of the excitement and danger, I kind of like it. I guess that's how he feels every time he goes on an adventure." I wait a couple minutes, seeing if she would reply with another hum, but she doesn't. I sigh and sit against the door, trying to get my thoughts in order. That's when I hear a quiet click, and I immediately turn around and stare at the door. _Did it just unlock…?_ I slowly stand up and touch the handle. I give it a pull and a fresh breeze welcomes me. I push open the door, not stepping out of the TARDIS yet, just looking around. The first thing I notice is that it's really dark. Ugh. The Doctor and Clara had a flashlight, so why couldn't I? I then feel something hit the back of my foot, and I can easily guess what it is. I turn around and pick up the flashlight. "Thanks, Sexy," I whisper, giving the door frame a soft pat. I finally step out of the TARDIS and shut the door behind me quietly, turning on the flashlight. I point my flashlight at the four pillars that the TARDIS is in between, and take a guess on which way the Doctor went. I turn right. Haha, sorry Donna.

I begin to walk in that direction, scanning the flashlight over everything. When I point my flashlight up at the ceiling, I stare at it with awe. It's pitch black and looks like it's never ending, which is probably what it is. I bite my bottom lip nervously. This is not my position to be in. The universe could've picked anybody, but no, it had to pick me. I don't see why I'm so special. This universe obviously thinks I am, but I'm really not. I wish I didn't have to do this alone. I wish I had my best friend from my universe, Claire, to stand by my side and help me with whatever problem I had.

And I have _a lot_ of problems to go through right now.

I walk up the steps and stand before a pillar that says 'Rest in Peace', and below it, 'We Promise' engraved in its cement. Gosh, why do they have to make it sound so creepy? I turn away from that and take another right, leading into a large open hallway with Cybermen in fish tanks. Gross. I walk up to the first one and stare at it, seeing if it would move. Nope, nothing. I roll my eyes, because that would be so cool if it did, and start to walk forward when my legs go numb. Great. My whole body is now numb, and I vanish before falling on my back. On a very hard cemented street. Ow…

I blow the strands of hair out of my face and stand up, looking around. Well, I'm most certainly in London. Oh, and hey look, people are surrounding Cybermen and taking pictures with them. Probably posting them on Tumblr, Twitter, or Instagram. Wait, am I in the same episode? I spin around to find Missy holding up a phone to her face, taking a picture of her and the Doctor, and may I say, the face that he's giving right now is priceless. Well, yeah, he did just find out that the Master is back, and he escaped the time lock. If I were him, I would have that dumbstruck look on my face too.

I take a step forward, and his eyes meet mine. He gives me a horrified look of what's going on around us, and I just look down as a response.

"Ellie, come here. Celebrate this moment with us." Missy's voice rings out, and I just do what she says. I have no way of stopping this. I mean I know how, but it's not my place to make it happen.

As I make my way over to them, and I give her a disgusted look. "Us?" I question. "I know that the Doctor, if by the look on his face doesn't already give it away, is not celebrating. And neither am I. Nobody is except you. And I know what your plan is, and a way of stopping it. So you can save all of the trouble of trying to end the world, because we both know that you're not going to win." I give her a serious look while she just gives me a cold gaze. She then unpins her hat and throws it on the ground in front of a Cyberman's metal feet.

"Photo's with the big metal men, one pound," she announces, her Scottish accent showing. I roll my eyes as coins are thrown into the hat. She shows the Doctor her phone, "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys! We're going viral." I stand by the Doctor and cross my arms, not smiling. Missy puts the phone up in the air to take a picture when I swiftly tap her on the shoulder. "What?" she asks, not turning around.

"Uh, you might not want to take a selfie. It ages you." I am clearly trying to irritate her, and I think it worked. But just as she's about to reply, Osgood walks up to us.

"Would you like me to take a picture? Sorry, selfies are never good, are they? And you're having a lovely moment. Hang on." She snatches the phone out of Missy's hand.

"No, just－" Missy starts, but is cut off and pulled back by the Doctor. He stares at Osgood, more specifically, her bow tie.

"Nice bow tie," he compliments.

I look down at her shoes, smiling, "And converse."

She looks at the Doctor, "Bow ties are cool." She then glances at me, "And you know, I couldn't wear a bow tie without the full package." She puts Missy's phone up in the air, about to take a picture. "Big smiles!" I stand between the Doctor and Missy, trying to give my most sarcastic grin I can come up with, and putting a thumb up by my face. "And, now!" When I watched this episode in my universe, I knew at that moment that she was giving a command, because people wouldn't just say it like that when taking a picture.

I turn my head in all directions as UNIT agents, or something like that, point their guns at us. I then take a step backwards as the Doctor takes my arm along with Missy's. I look straight ahead and smile as I see Kate Stewart walk up to us, holding something behind her back.

"Afternoon. You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny." She turns towards the Doctor, "Haircut?"

"Bit of a trim," the Doctor replies shortly.

"Might want to do your roots," she points out while I giggle quietly. "The woman." She points to Missy.

"Yes, ma'am." Two UNIT soldiers pass Missy and instead walk up to me, grabbing me by the arms and holding me back.

"Hey!" I protest loudly. I then go all _Karate Kid _on them and kick the left soldier in the shin, and then I do the same to the right soldier, and they both grunt in pain. "_Don't touch me,"_ I hiss at both of them. I glance up at everybody and notice that they're all staring at me. I give a sheepish look.

"Wrong woman," Kate finally says, her voice pointing in the direction of the fallen soldiers. She points to Missy again, and two new soldiers come up to her and hold her back.

I stand back by the Doctor while he whispers to me, "I thought I told you to stay in the TARDIS until Clara and I get back."

I shrug, "Oh, you did. I just didn't listen." He doesn't say anything after that.

Kate walks up to stand across from the Cybermen. "Kate Stewart. Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, _outstanding_ bridge player. Also Chief Scientific Officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded."

"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology," the Cyberman replies.

"Sorry," she feigns apology. "You left this behind on one of your previous attempts." She throws down a damaged Mondas Cyberman head before her. The Cyberman tilts its head slightly down to look at it. Poor guy. One of the soldiers brings the Doctor forward, and I follow. "So now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this. They're on the payroll."

"Are we?" the Doctor and I question in unison, only mine is a bit deeper in question.

"Well, technically."

"How much?" I ask while a slight smirk appears on my face.

She glances at me, "Shush. Any questions?" She waits for the Cybermen to reply, but instead they hit the blue disks in the middle of their metal chests and stomp their feet in unison. Dust is blown in all directions as engines located in their feet start up. The Doctor quickly pulls me back with him as everybody steps back also. I then glance back at Missy and see that she's smiling. I roll my eyes. I watch as the Cybermen fly up into the air, disappearing from sight. I suddenly realize what happens next, and sharply turn around to see the dome of St. Pauls peeling back like a banana.

"Oh, my God!" Osgood exclaims. "Is it supposed to do that? Is that new?"

"A sun roof on St. Pauls? Yes, I'd say that was new," the Doctor replies sarcastically. I give his arm a nudge.

"There's going to be a mass panic. Everybody in London can see that," Kate points out. We all watch as Cyberman fly out of the dome.

"Everyone in London just clapped and went 'whee'. Now hush, I'm trying to count."

"Eighty－one, I think." Osgood says. We all turn and stare at her. She gives us a sheepish look, "OCD."

"Ninety－one," Missy speaks up. We all then turn to stare at her. She gestures her arms at herself, having a little trouble since she's still being held back by the soldiers. "Queen of evil."

Kate turns towards the Doctor, "How could St. Pauls be full of ninety－one Cybermen and nobody noticed?"

"Dimensional engineering. One space folded into another. Bigger on the inside," the Doctor replies. He then turns to Missy while giving her a cold look, "Easy if you're a Time Lord." Missy just gives him a cocky grin.

"Mostly deploying south, a smaller number east," Osgood says.

"Yup, but one straight up."

"So ninety－one isn't a coincidence?"

"Of course it isn't." The Doctor takes Missy's phone out of Osgood's hands.

"Osgood?" Kate asks. "Ninety－one. Explain."

"Ninety one areas of significant population density in the British Isles," she responds.

The Doctor shows the phone in front of Missy. "That's one Cyberman for every city and major town. It's happening everywhere, all over the world, right now."

Missy glances at the Doctor, but then sets her eyes on me. "Sweet planet, this. Think I might keep it."

I glare at her, "I'd like to see you try."

"Oh, but dear, you have."

"Hasn't happened for me yet," I mutter and turn away. I can hear her snicker in the background, and that only makes me more nervous.

"Has it exploded?" Kate inquires, looking up at the dark cloud above St. Pauls. I look up too and my eyes widen with fear.

"More than that," Missy explains. "Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They're not human."

The Doctor gives Missy a hard stare. "If it's not exploding, what's it doing?"

"Pollinating. Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth." The soldiers let go of Missy and she walks up to the Doctor. "The dead are coming home, Doctor. All shiny and new. In twenty－four hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist."

"What are you doing? Explain. Tell me now."

I wasn't sure if she was going to reply in the episode back at home, and she doesn't here either as one of the soldiers fires a sedative dart into her neck. "Oh! That was nice. Must do it again sometime." Two of the soldiers drag her now feeble body back.

"No. No, no, no, no. I need to talk to her! I need her awake."

I should've been looking out for myself, because I then feel a sharp pain in the side of my neck. "Hey!" I put my hand up to it and pull out the dart, but I already see little black dots dancing around in my vision. I faintly hear the Doctor yelling at them, and I distantly feel myself being dragged away by the soldiers as I give in and let myself be swept away by the darkness.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I swiftly open my eyes and gasp, instinctively moving my hands but realize that they're a little tied up right now. Literally. I blink a couple times to clear my vision, and see the Doctor on the other side of the room talking to Osgood. "Uh, Doctor," I say, but notice that it's barely above a whisper. I clear my throat, "Doctor, can you, uh, sonic these handcuffs?" He stops talking and turns around to face me.

"Sure, Ellie." He takes out his sonic screwdriver from his outside pocket and presses a button on it. It whirs and I suddenly feel the handcuffs loosen. I sigh in relief and step off of the box trolley, tucking the handcuffs into my dimensionally transcendental bag. But I don't feel it with me. Panic wells over me as I look down at my side and realize it's gone. _Wait, I don't think I had it with me the whole time since I exited the TARDIS. Where did it go?!_ "I have it," the Doctor says.

I look up at him with confusion, "How did you…?"

"I've known you for over a thousand years, Ellie. I think I would know what you're thinking by now. And I took it because I didn't want you going out there alone. I also knew that you knew how to get out, I just wanted to see if you would know how this early in your time stream."

And then the truth dawns on me.

I can't ever go home again.

I stay speechless until tears spring to me eyes. "A thousand years?" I whisper.

The Doctor stares at the ground, "I'm sorry."

I sniffle and push my tears back, noting that this is not the time or place to be having a total breakdown. Even though I so wish I could now, I can't. When I return to the TARDIS and hopefully get a room, I will. If the vortex manipulator doesn't have other plans.

The Doctor slowly walks up to me and doesn't come any closer than a foot. "I'm so sorry, Ellie. I wish there was a way, but there isn't. I've tried, believe me."

I laugh bitterly, "You're not supposed to tell me my future, Doctor."

"Well, I thought it was safe to say it. And it needed to be said anyway."

I glance up at him with somber eyes, "Did it?"

"Yes, you'll thank me in the future."

I stay silent and think about what he just said. _How would I ever thank him for telling me that my world is gone and I can never go back again?_ I bite my lip as he walks up to Missy, waiting for her to wake up. "Can I please have my bag back?" I ask him quietly. He takes it out of his coat and hands it to me without saying a word. I silently thank him and sling it over my shoulder. Just then Missy's eyes suddenly open, and she looks over to her left to see the Doctor giving her a hard stare, a smirk on her lips.

"Why are you alive?" he asks her harshly.

"You saved me," she says while feigning innocence.

"I saved Gallifrey."

"Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There's always collateral damage with you and me. It's our Paris."

"Gallifrey's lost in another dimension."

"Yes, and no."

"Meaning?"

"Yes, it's in another dimension," Missy clarifies. "No, it's not lost."

"You know where it is?"

"Yep! You know the best part of knowing?" She lowers her voice, "Not. Telling. You."

I step into the conversation, "Then tell me." Yes, I know, wrong move, but maybe I can trick her.

She turns to face me, "Oh, Ellie. Sure, I can tell you. But it'll have to be our little secret. And the Doctor will have to give us some privacy."

Ahmed's voice rings out from the Doctor's walkie talkie, "Mr. President, sir, we're ready for you up here."

The Doctor starts to walk to the other side of the room. "Remember all those years when all you wanted to do was rule the world?" Missy stays silent as the Doctor tells Ahmed that he's on his way. "Piece of cake." He then turns to see what Osgood is doing.

I turn towards Missy. "So?"

She looks up at me, "'So' what?"

I roll my eyes, exasperated. "You said you were going to tell me where Gallifrey is located."

"Oh, that? I might have lied about that one, I'm such a bad girl." I stare at her, irritated, but also at myself for falling for something like that. "But I do have something to tell you."

"Like what," I ask through gritted teeth.

"Come closer, I don't want the guards to hear."

"No, it's either you tell me right here, or you don't say anything at all."

"It's about your future," she sings, bribing me.

"No," I say simply, and turn to face the other direction.

"Fine, your loss. I guess you'll never know what his name is then."

Okay, I've had enough.

I sharply turn my body in her direction and stare at her with stern eyes, "I don't need to know his name, nor do I want to." I obviously lie, hoping that she wouldn't notice. "Now leave me alone." I walk over to my box trolley and sit beside it, putting my legs up and resting my head in my arms. She doesn't say anything after that, and I sigh and close my eyes…

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I suddenly wake up, startled from somebody calling my name. My eyes scan over everything until they finally rest upon Missy who has her arm around Osgood's throat, her phone with a built in disintegrator in her other hand. I quickly turn around to yell at the guards for not keeping her handcuffed. But their ashes are lying in a pile on the floor. Oh…

"Say something nice," Missy insists upon Osgood. I quickly rack my mind, trying to think of what to do. I only have seconds until Missy disintegrates Osgood. I need to save her, I just need to. I saved Jabe on Platform One, so I can save Osgood. It can't really change any events, except for her maybe travelling with the Doctor… Oh, then that would change lots of events. Well, it was a maybe if she could travel with him. I could probably talk the Doctor out of it, sadly, or maybe she'll just stay with UNIT. Whatever. I don't care, I'm saving her.

But before I can do anything whatsoever, my vortex manipulator short circuits, and the next thing I know I'm falling through mid air.

* * *

><p><strong>Oops, sorry, cliffhanger. <strong>

**Until next time! ;]**


	7. Interlude: Bookshelves

**A/N: Wow, 46 followers already! Thanks to all! **

**Enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time!**

**Chapter 7**

**Interlude: Bookshelves**

_I didn't know what was happening. My mind went blank as I realized that I was no longer in the Valliant. I was falling through the sky, the foggy mist blocking my line of vision from all angles. Right then I thought I was really going to die. My family would never know, nobody that I knew would. I was so scared, but I knew that it wasn't going to be a painful death. It would end quickly. And even that thought sent shivers down my spine. _

_But then the TARDIS materialized and the doors flew open, catching me as I fell. I was basically crying with tears of relief when I saw the Doctor. I hugged him so tightly that I was probably suffocating him. For some reason he didn't hug me back, though, as I would have wanted him to. _

"El, you alright?" the Doctor asks as he turns a couple knobs on the time rotor and looks back up at the monitor.

I quickly glance up from my distracted state, "Yeah, fine."

He turns away from the monitor and looks at me, "You don't seem alright."

I lock my gaze back down to my sonic screwdriver that I am now fiddling with in my hands. "Wow, Doctor. You know me so well," I say in mock amazement.

"Ellie, tell me what's wrong."

I sigh, "Well, for starters, I thought I was going to be killed by Missy. Again. And then, the next thing I know I'm falling through the sky, thinking that I was finally going to die. I thought my life was going to end, just like that. Doctor, I was so scared. I just… I just don't want to ever go through that experience again. To think that you're going to die any second from now…" I trail off, leaving my sentence hanging. I don't want to say anything else, I don't want to sound like a baby. I know I am being one, though, so I tuck all of my sentimental emotions away, and replace it with a forced smile. "Never mind all of my babbling, though. Go on," I gesture my hand to to door of the TARDIS. "Go get Clara, stop the Cybermen, and for everybody's sake, stop the Master."

He finally looks away from me and turns a few more knobs and pushes a few more buttons. He glances back up at the monitor. "We've landed." He eyes me again. "And Eleanor, I'm sorry. So sorry for everything that's happened. I'll be back with Clara in tow. Now you stay here, and don't touch any of the controls! Don't want you taking us to some distant planet again."

I give him a confused look, "So that's happened before?"

He grins and takes a step forward, putting his finger to his lips. "Shh… Spoilers."

"Hmm… That's an adventure I can't wait to have. Sounds very me to be playing with the console controls…" I smirk and raise an eyebrow.

"No, Ellie. You're not doing it again! Just… stay here. You can go in any room the TARDIS hasn't locked, I'll be back." He walks over to the door and opens it, stepping out. Once he closes it, I squeal excitedly. _Wow, okay, where to start?_

I touch the railing of the stairs in the console room and run up them, gazing at the large book case. I pull out a random book and realize that the cover is in Gallifreyan. I smile and open up the book, skimming through the pages. _Nope, no translating. Why would the TARDIS, alive and all, want to translate Gallifreyan writing for me when I'm not even a Time Lord? _I sigh, a little disappointed, and walk forward, taking a right. _There has to be something I can do until they return, _I ponder. I walk down a straight corridor and pass several doors, looking for my room. But then a thought occurs to me, _once I find my room, or if I find my room, what if it's locked? _

"You're being ridiculous," I say to myself. "The TARDIS wouldn't lock my own room so I couldn't get in."

All of a sudden a set of double doors catches my attention, and walk over to it with interest. The wooden doors look ancient, with beautiful carvings strewn across. I carefully pull on the handle, and my eyes widen with excitement at the sight.

The Library.

I slowly put my foot in front of the other and gaze over everything that's before me. _Wow! This is amazing! _Rows of bookshelves are lined up after another. The floor is shiny and clean, my shoes squeaking with every step I take. The room smells ancient, like time, and… Well, books.

I let my fingers slide against the bookshelves as I pass them, scanning the book aisles. _Science fiction… Nonfiction… Romance… Wait, romance?_

I quickly back－track to that aisle and stop, furrowing my eyebrows. It's gone. The romance aisle is gone. The bookshelves, everything. It's just a big empty spot in the middle of the floor.

I feign to laugh, patting a nearby bookshelf. "Seriously."

But when I turn back around, all of the bookshelves are gone. The whole Library is empty.

"I guess I'll come back… later?" I say aloud uncertainly. _I don't understand why the TARDIS did that, _I muse, _but it had to be for a reason. _

I start to turn around to exit, but realize that the double doors are _also _gone.

"Uh, hi, TARDIS. I kinda want to leave now..." I say to the ceiling.

Nothing.

"Can I leave now…?"

Nothing.

I stare at where the doors used to be, glaring slightly. "Fine, I'll just wait then." I drop to the floor and sit crossed legged, prepared to wait for a while.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I continue to stare at the spot where the doors had previously been, my vision starting to waver from my strained eyes. It has felt like that I've been here for hours, but I have no way of telling since time is irrelevant in space, and also because there's no clock. I even tried to look for some sort of watch or pocket watch in my dimensionally transcendental bag, but, of course, there wasn't one.

I played with my sonic screwdriver a little, trying to find a setting that could make the doors come back, but the TARDIS didn't allow that.

So I'm officially stuck in here, eating apples since they're the only food in my bag, and tugging at the leather on my vortex manipulator. This is still kind of hard to believe, being transported into one of my favorite TV shows, but all in all, it's been quite the adventure. Even though I've almost died over four times, I could say that I haven't felt this good in my entire life.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I snap my head to the right, noticing for the first time that the set of double doors have returned. And somebody's pounding on them.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I get to my feet in an instant, slight fear written across my features.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I slowly walk over to the door, putting my ear up against it. The banging stops, but all of a sudden the doors barge open, causing me to stumble backwards in startlement.

I quickly glance up to see Clara Oswald standing in the doorway.

"Hello!" she greets cheerfully, pulling me into a hug. I think I stop breathing because of what shock I'm in.

She pulls back while I stumble on my words, "But… but… but..."

She grins at me, "The Doctor said this is the first time you meet me. Must be kind of strange getting hugged by somebody you don't even know."

I shake my head, "I－I kinda know…"

Clara gazes at me while smiling softly. "Know what?"

I press my lips together. "Nothing. Aren't you leaving soon, though? Because of…" I quickly trail off, telling myself to shut up.

She looks down at the ground, but then back up to me. "Yeah, I think I've had enough travelling. I mean, I love it, I really do. But he's still not like my Doctor. The Doctor I fanc－"She cuts herself off. "And Danni… I just can't anymore."

Pieces of the episode flashes through my mind, and I then remember what happened to Danni. He got turned into a Cyberman, was a dead man (literally), and had to travel to another universe with the rest of the Cybermen in control just to get rid of them. Wow, how she must feel _horrible_ right now.

"I'm sorry," I say quietly with sad eyes. I couldn't save him. But I couldn't even if I wanted to, there was no way. It would change events, and I know I'm not an expert or anything, but I couldn't risk it. If I did, I would have no clue of what would happen next, and I don't like not knowing, just like the Doctor. I wouldn't know if something bad was about to happen, and I know the Doctor counts on me to know the things that would happen in the future.

"Yeah, me too." She looks back up at me with hope in her eyes. "But the Doctor said that the bracelet that was used to control the Cybermen could make it possible to travel from one parallel universe to the other. Maybe if Danni knows that, then he'll come home. I don't know what I'll do without him." She's on the verge of tears, and I brace her with a hug of reassurance, even though I know that he's not coming home.

"Don't stop hoping," I encouraged, speaking quietly into her shoulder. "He might already know, and he might even be trying to get home as we speak." We let go of the hug, and she gives me a small, trusting smile. Gosh, I feel so bad.

She wipes her eyes with the end of her sleeve, "Yeah, you're probably right."

I smile at her. "I know something that could get _both_ of our minds off of things."

She giggles, sorrow wiped from her expression, "And what would that be?"

I cross my arms, "What's anything better to do than kick your feet up, relax, watch a little TV, and sip some hot steaming tea?"

She grins at me and grabs my hand, "You know, you're right. I need something to take my mind off of things."

I grin back. "Kitchen first?"

She nods and faces me, "Definitely."

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I pour the contents of the tea into a mug and walk over to a Keurig single coffee maker, putting the mug under the water spout. I had one of these at home, and I never knew how much I needed one till now. I click the 10 ounce cup option, and watch as the hot water fills the cup before turning back to Clara, who's sitting on the counter next to me, her legs crossed with a book in hand. "Good book?" I ask, interrupting her from reading.

She glances up at me, "Yeah, this is my fourth time reading it in a row. Never gets old." She gets back to reading while the Keurig makes its usual gurgling sound, me turning back towards it and picking it up to bring it over to Clara.

"Here," I say, snapping her out of her thoughts of her book.

"You probably think I'm an idiot for not making my own tea," she mutters, giving me a slightly embarrassed look. "But I can't stop thinking about Danni. Reading and tea are usually the only things that help me through whatever situation, but I don't think that they'll even cover it." She puts down the book face down next to her, sliding off of the counter and standing next to me. "How's your shoulder?"

I shrug, "Fine, I guess. I haven't really been paying attention to it, I'm too used to how it hurts every single second."

Clara gives me a smile of understanding, "The Doctor could always give you a shot for that one."

I stare at her and shake my head, "No, that's okay. I don't really do needles."

She walks over to one of the three tables and sits down, "Yeah, me either. But when the Doctor brought you in when you took that bullet, he－" She's suddenly cuts off as she falls to the floor, her chair that she was sitting on vanishing from sight.

I stare at the sight of where her chair was as she gets to her knees to stare at it with me. "I forgot," I say to her. "The TARDIS doesn't like you very much… nor me, apparently."

She gets to her feet and dusts off her skirt, "I know," she mutters. "Stupid Snogbox."

I laugh, "Maybe if you would stop calling her a Snogbox, she wouldn't do those things to you."

She grins and walks over to me, "Never." She continues to stare at me, almost like she's calculating something.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

She looks down and shakes her head, "No." She looks back up at me, "I just never noticed how young you looked out in the TARDIS's corridor, but now I can really see it."

I laugh and get out a mug and hot chocolate packet from the cabinet above me, "Like I've never heard that one before."

"No, but really. It almost looks like you don't have experience, like you can't even believe what's happening around you."

I turn to her, "Clara, this is the fifth time that I've met the Doctor. I really don't have any experience, and I still can't believe how this is even possible."

She takes a sip of tea from her mug, "Remember what the Doctor says, nothing's impossible until you can prove it to be."

I frown while putting the contents into my mug, "Yeah, and there's no way of proving it."

She sits up on the counter again. "Before I actually met the Doctor, a woman in a shop gave me a phone number that I thought was the cable companies." I nod, knowing where this is heading. "But it wasn't just an ordinary number, it was the Doctor's phone number, specifically the TARDIS's. I didn't know it then, and when the Doctor told me about how Missy had set us up, I couldn't believe it. All this time, the Master was keeping us together." She turns away, "But why? The Doctor already told me, but it still doesn't make sense. 'Cause she's perfect' as Missy said isn't enough." She looks up at me with a disbelieving look on her face. "And did she seriously call me a 'control freak' as the Doctor said?"

I laugh a little, but it dies down from the look that she's giving me. I clear my throat, "Uh, yeah, from what I can remember from the ep… I mean, from what I can remember." Once the water is done filling up my mug, I stir it around, taking small sips of it.

She stares down at her tea, "I'm going to have to have a word with him." She takes another sip of her tea before putting it down by her book. "Actually, right now. And you're coming with me."

I almost choke on my scathing hot chocolate from what she just said. I don't want to be in the middle of an argument! "Uh, I think you'll do fine without me. From what I've seen, you're pretty good with arguments."

She shakes her head, dragging me out of the kitchen with her. "I don't care, you're defending me."

I sigh, letting her drag me to the console room. "Oh, this isn't going to end well."

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

We enter the console room after what felt like forever of trying to find it. I pointed out to Clara that she should know the way by now, but she said that the TARDIS keeps switching the orders of the corridors. They really need to work on their relationship problems.

She lets go of my hand and walks over to the Doctor, who's currently reading a book up on the higher level of the console room, sitting in a comfy chair.

Once he sees that she's standing right next to him, he looks up, noticing her and also me. He smiles, "Oh, so you two got acquainted then?"

Clara gives a tight smile in return, "Yeah, we most certainly got acquainted."

I play along and pull off a smile myself. "We just… talked about… stuff." _Wow, nice job playing it smooth._

She glances at me, and then back to the Doctor. "We have something to discuss, Doctor."

The Doctor closes the book in his lap and stands up, stepping down the steps to the lower level, "About what, Clara? I'm far too busy to be listening to you mourn over P.E. right now."

I giggle from the Doctor's rudeness and Clara just rolls her eyes, "This isn't about Danni, Doctor. It's about Missy calling me a 'control freak'. Am I really?"

He looks at her like it's not such a big deal. "Clara, you have to get over that fact. It's just who you are, you can't help it."

She just stares at the Doctor, and I can almost see the the steam radiating off of her. The Doctor rolls his eyes, "Oh, come on Clara, don't give me that look. The other thing that I was going to mention is that you ask too many questions. It takes the fun out of everything."

She slaps her hands down on her sides, "Okay, Doctor, think what you like. I probably got the controlling part from you anyway." And with that, she storms off, probably going back to the kitchen to get her tea and book.

The Doctor leans against the console, while I stand by the stairs, thinking of what to say or do next. Not Clara, leave her to her tea and book. The Doctor, well, I don't know. I wouldn't really know what to talk about, and if I did, it would most likely result in me being embarrassingly awkward. Maybe it's the best time for the manipulator to place me somewhere else now. _Wow, I never thought that I would actually say that. _

But it won't listen.

_Dammit, universe! Why won't you just listen to me this one time?! I'll do anything! Whoa… Maybe not anything..._

"Ellie, what are you doing?"

I quickly glance up to see that the Doctor's staring at me strangely. Oh… Was I cursing to the vortex manipulator out loud?

"Let me see it." He points to the manipulator.

I walk towards him and hold up my right arm, "Why?"

He doesn't respond and holds up my arm, looking at it for something. What could he possibly be looking for? It's broken!

"It's always cracked," he explains. Well, sort of. "You've always been a paradox, even this young."

"What do you mean?"

"It means without you, the universe would die. There would be nothing if you didn't come to this universe. And you couldn't prevent it anyway, it was always meant to be. It was your destiny, and it still is."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there. My destiny? No, that can't be it. It has to be something else, something that he's missing… My eyes widen and I suddenly look down at the ground. "Bye, Doctor. See you in the past, or future. Never know which one of yourselves I'll end up with." I smile nervously. I can basically feel when it's coming now.

He looks surprised, "You're leaving?"

"Uh, yeah. Problem?"

"No, it's just usually you leave later than this."

I smirk, "Well, I think I made a bet with the universe. And I'm going to fulfil it."

The Doctor laughs loudly, "A bet with the universe? You?"

I just nod and smile before disappearing with a flash.

－x－x－x－x－x－x－x－

I land on wobbly feet, quickly putting my hands out in front of me to prepare for a painful fall, but it doesn't come. I keep my eyes closed and head down, not returning to my normal position until my breathing returns to normal. Once it does, I slowly open up my eyes reluctantly. And stare at the ground. Oh, whoops. My head is still in a lowered position. I laugh out loud at my idioticness and look up, adjusting my eyes. A… green metal wall. _Wow, I didn't expect anything else, _I think sarcastically. My hands that were out must have stopped me from falling and instead acted like a stand to keep myself upright on the wall. I sigh in relief and take my hands off of the wall, only to fall on the hard, dusty ground. I put my hand up to my head to relieve my lightheadedness. "This is the worst landing yet," I mutter, wincing at the occasional pain.

"Looks like you need a relief patch, love. No charge," I hear a familiar voice say.

I put my hand down and squint to see who the woman who just spoke was. Somehow she sounded familiar. And a relief patch? What's that about?

The sun is bright, surprisingly, but the woman's image is clear. _A vendor lady… Oh, no... Not this episode. Gridlock, I think?_ The lady at the vendor with the short strawberry blond hair is motioning me towards her. _Should I? Wait, maybe she has pain killers… _

I slowly get to my feet with great effort, swaying a bit from dizziness, and trudge over to the vendor lady. She smiles at me briefly before taking out a patch that says 'relief' on it. I stare at it warily. "This helps with any pain you've got, emotionally or physically. No charge needed, my love. It looked like you really needed it when you landed, and I can still see that you do." She hands it to me and I cautiously take it, looking it over. I do still feel sick from the time travel, maybe this'll help.

I laugh quietly, "What could possibly go wrong?" I stick the patch on my neck and give a small thanks to the woman before heading out the door ahead of me, about to search for the Doctor.


End file.
